Jennifer Huang – jch3723
RHE 309K (Guilty Pleasures)
Rhetorical Analysis 2.1
Dogs are People, Too
“Dogs Are People, Too” is an article about a scientific research of dogs. The article
briefly summarizes how the author, Gregory Berns, conducts the research. Gregory Berns is the
author of the article and at the same time, the researcher/scientist. He explained how the dog’s
brain and human’s brain work alike and similar. His article appeals to the audience using ethos,
pathos and logos. He specially focuses on using pathos and personal feeling. He wrote in first
person using words and phrases like “my colleagues and I,” “my friend,” “my dog,” “we” and
“I.” Those words show that he is writing in a reader friendly manner. This article was published
in The New York Times, an American daily newspaper that has a printed version and web based
version.
The title of the article, “Dogs Are People, Too” sounds like a title for an article about
animals (dogs) right or about animals abuse. It appeals to the audience and readers in a emotional
way. The title consists of all the words in capital letters, even the word “Are.” Normally, in a
title, the verbs are written in lower case. Having the word, “are” in capital letter in the title shows
that there is a strong emphasis on how important the verb is. It shows that the author wants to
emphasize that dogs are people too. There is no way that dogs can be people. The author wanted
to say that the dogs have characteristics that are the same as humans. The word “too” at the end
of the title reinforces the feeling of how important dogs and humans are alike. The word “too”
makes it sound as if there is something or someone else that “are” humans.
After the title, there is an image of a dog. Jane Evelyn, an American photojournalist that
loves taking project photography, is the photographer of the image. Her photographs are full of
meaning and portray a lot of emotions. The image that illustrates the article portrays a dog in a
very melancholically way. The dog’s expression is not happy or enthusiastic. The picture is black
Jennifer Huang – jch3723
RHE 309K (Guilty Pleasures)
and white or gray scale, which adds sad emotion to the image. The article’s content is about how
the dogs are human, how they are test subjects by free will and how correctly the experiment or
research was conducted. The image’s appeal or feeling does not match with the content’s appeal
or feeling. The wording and appeal of the content show how the dogs are happy with the
research, because no one pressures the dogs to do the research. The dogs had the free will to
decide whether he wants to be the test subject or not. The title and the image, both give the
audience a feeling that the article is about animals (dogs) rights.
The article starts off with saying “my colleagues and I … an M.R.I scanner” This first
sentence appeals to the audience in first person, as if the author is talking to a friend. At the same
time, the author assumes that the audience and reader knows the meaning of M.R.I scanner. The
M.R.I. scanner is scientific term that not many understand. It is introduced in the first sentence.
No disclaimer or author’s note about M.R.I. scanner was presented in the whole article. He also
said that he has many colleagues working with him, but no information about the other
colleagues was presented.
The second sentence of the first paragraph says, “Our goals has been to determine how
dog’s brain work and, even more important, what they think of us humans.” Here, the author is
writing in a way as if the readers know what the author is doing. It sounds as if the reader or
audience knows what the research is about, how is it conducted and what is an M.R.I scanner.
When he said “our goal,” it sounds as if the goal is not only the author and his colleagues goal,
but the reader’s goal too. If the reader is familiar with the term “M.R.I. scanner” then he must
have an idea of what the research is about. This means that the article is meant for readers
who have an interest on how the dog’s brain works. Readers may include scientists,
veterinarians or any person that is interested in animals.
Jennifer Huang – jch3723
RHE 309K (Guilty Pleasures)
The first paragraph, which consists of only two sentences, appeals to the audience or
readers using ethos and pathos. It uses pathos because it shows emotion and strong feeling when
the author mentions his team’s goal for the past two years. By saying “for the past two years”
and “our goal,” the author wanted the readers to know that he has a lot of feeling for the
research. By saying that his team has spent two years working on the research, the author wants
to show ethos or to appeal using authority. Research that is two years old has to have certain
credibility.
Next to the second paragraph, there is a link that directs the viewers to a video about dogs
on YouTube. The video was reated by Emory University. By looking at the link only, one might
believe that the video is not credible because it says that it is from YouTube. YouTube is a
video-sharing website that is open to the public for video uploading. The author attached the
link to show credibility. The author wants to appeal to the reader and audience by using ethos.
He wants to show some proof on how dogs love us (humans). The link reinforces the title’s
claim.
The second paragraph says “my one inescapable conclusion is this: dogs are people, too.”
Once again, the title of the article is presented. This time, the author wants to show his personal
feelings. He wanted to show his personal feeling when he said that it is his “inescapable
conclusion.” This means that the article is based on his emotions. By saying “my inescapable
conclusion,” the author wants to appeal to the audience or readers using emotional appeals.
Continuing in the article, the author mentions the M.R.I. scanner again. This time, the
author does not explain what a M.R.I. scanner is but mentions some characteristics of the
scanner. The author also mentions that the animals were not anesthetized before the research.
Here, the author appeals to the audience using logos. Since the readers are people who have
Jennifer Huang – jch3723
RHE 309K (Guilty Pleasures)
previous knowledge about the subject of study, the author showed some important facts and
characteristics of the scanner.
Berns said that he “treated dogs as persons,” and that the “dogs had the right to quit the
study.” He even compared the dog to a child; both needed a guardian to be a test subject. Here,
he used logos or logic to relate his claims. He claimed that he treated the dogs as people. By
giving the dog the authority to quit and by having a guardian, the author is treating the dog as a
child. A child is a person. Children are people, but they need protection and are sometimes
simple humans. Children know how to think but they are not fully developed to able to
understand everything in this world. The same way that a dog has feelings, emotion and life, a
baby has it too. He used a metaphor to describe a dog as a child. The author used the logical and
emotional appeal here. It is logical when he mentioned that the dog’s guardian has to sign the
consent in other to conduct the research on the dog. It is emotional when he related the dog to the
child.
On the next paragraph, Berns mentions his own dog, Callie. He gave some
bibliographical information about his dog. He also said that his dog was the first one to
“volunteer.” He also mentions what Callie has to learn to do before going to the M.R.I. scanner.
Here, the author tries to appeal to the audience using pathos and ethos. The author use emotional
appeals when he gives some facts about his dog, making the reader feel more familiar with that is
going on. The author uses emotional appeals when he mentions that his dog, Callie was the firest
one to use the scanner. Since his dog is the first one, Berns must have a lot of knowledge about
the process and know exactly what happened to the dog. He mentions some fun facts about
Callie to show that he is actually very close to his dog. Berns wanted to show that he trusted
the research so much that he can even let his dog, which he consider as his baby or child, to do it.
Jennifer Huang – jch3723
RHE 309K (Guilty Pleasures)
No parents will pressure their baby or child to do something that is bad for them. The same way,
Berns will not harm his own dog.
Continuing, Berns mentions that they received ruitful results after “some trial-and- error.”
Here, he wants to present to the audience that the research is correct. He appeals to the audience
by using ethos. He showed authority here. He showed that the research is doing well and that he
is starting to master the research.
Following, there is a sentence that starts with the word “dog” in all capital letters. It says,
“DOGS have long been considered property.” Capitalizing the word “dog” shows emotions. Just
like the title, where the word “are” is all capitalized, the word “dog” is all capitalized here.
Capitalizing words when it is not necessary is a way to appeal to the audience using pathos. It
shows that Berns wants to focus on those two words. It shows that the author felt strongly while
drafting this article.
The article ends with some information about the author. The final statement explains
who Gregory Berns is: an author, scientist, researcher, and Callie’s guardian. This is
appealing to the audience by using ethos. At the very beginning of the article, there was no
introduction of who was conducting the research. People might think that some college students
or freelance scientist conducted this research. Claiming who is the author helps the readers to
believe more of what the article claims.
Overall, Gregory Berns used a lot of pathos in this article. He made the readers believe
that he put forward lot of feelings while drafting this article when he capitalized “dog.” He
showed ethos at the end of the article by claiming who is he. Without claiming who he is at the
end, the article will sound friendly but not trustworthy. It sounds friendly because he used a lot
Jennifer Huang – jch3723
RHE 309K (Guilty Pleasures)
of pathos when describing his dog and writing in first person. It will not sound trustworthy
because readers might think that this is just a student research project.