Authors often in books use literary devices to enhance their writing and create a more appealing story to the readers or their target audience they are trying to interest in the story. Some of the common literary devices used in writing is Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Ethos is used to "Influence the readers emotions, behaviors and morals," (Wiki-ethos). Which can motivate ideas, also Ethos is a way for the author to convince the audience that the information they are giving is trustworthy and reliable. Logos is used by authors to employ reason and logic into the information they are attempting to persuade the audience with. Often Logos is used to support or "back up" a claim made by the author. Pathos is used to by the author to create an emotional appeal between the readers and the information written by the author. Pathos is often considered the strongest of the three appeals (Ethos, Logos and Pathos). For it attempts to persuade readers by appealing to them emotionally.
In the Book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, the author uses mostly Pathos to create an emotional connection to the story and allowing readers to view things from a different perspective. To further explain I have found examples to allow for a better understanding of how the author used the three appeals to persuade the audience to view life from another perspective or point of view.
“On
my last afternoon, I try to explain who I am and why I’ve been working here to
the women on my team for the day- ‘Will you listen to me? I’m a writer and I’m
going to write a book about this place.’ ‘ Lori leans around from the front
seat and hushes the others with, ‘ Hey this is interesting,’ and to me: ‘ Are
you like, investigating?’” (nickelanddimed) The author explains in the story that she is a writer, and is trying to write a credible story about how hard people work to make a sufficient amount of money to be able to take care of their basic necessities. And she wants to interview them to see their point of view and allow for the readers to see life from another point of view with reliable information from a direct source. Rather then the Author creating her own inferences and supporting it with her own opinion. This is why the author uses Ethos in the quote above.
“And
this is the answer from Colleen a single mother of two who is usually direct
and vivacious but now looks at some spot straight ahead of her, where perhaps
the ancestor who escaped from the Great Potato Famine is staring back at her,
as intent as I am on what she will say:
‘I don’t mind, really, because I guess I’m simple person, and I don’t
want what they have. I mean, it’s
nothing to me. But what I would like to be able to take a day off now and
then…if I had to…and still be able to buy groceries the next day”(nickelanddimed) Curious on the perspective of someone who lives on a low salary, to give a reliable and trustworthy source to the information the author is attempting to persuade the reader with. The reader would not be convinced or consider viewing things from a different perspective if the author did not give a reliable reason to do so. This is why the Author used ethos in the quote above.
“But
as I’d learned from my coworkers in Maine-several of whom had spent time in
tightly shared space-people who depend on the generosity of others for their
lodging always have something untoward to put up with, typically incompatible
relatives and long waits for the bathroom,” (nickelanddimed) The Author uses Logos to explain the obstacles many people run into when they do not have the financial advantage others do. So often we chose to find the positive side of the situation and logically reason threw the pros and cons of life.
“He is the only representative of that better world where
people go to college and wear civilian clothes to work and shop on the weekends
for fun,” (nickelanddimed)The Author uses logos in reference to discussing that people often work
extremely hard to make ends meet but see many living in their view, a
privileged life. “Or
maybe it’s the low-wage work in general that has the effect of making you feel
like a pariah" (nickelanddimed)The Author uses Pathos to create a emotional appeal by using selective diction, example; "Pariah" meaning "outcast" . No one enjoys the feeling or even the thought of being an outcast by people therefore, the author uses this particular word to create a sense of sympathy from the readers. To allow them to understand and feel empathetic.
“As
far as I can figure my coworkers’ neediness-because that’s what it is-stems
from chronic deprivation. The home owners aren’t going to thank us for a job
well done, and God knows, people in the street aren’t going to hail us a
heroines of proletarian labor,”(nickelanddimed). The Author uses pathos to allow readers to empathize with those who do not receive the recognition they deserve. Instead are taken advantage of for, and viewed as the "underdogs of society". In conclusion, the book Nickel and Dimed uses the three appeals to persuade readers to change their perspective on the way they view things in life and to not take advantage of the simple things. Often the simple things to us can be a huge blessing to others in their point of view. Barbara Ehrenreich, uses Pathos a various amount of times throughout the story to create the emotional connection between the information given and the readers and allow for them to become more aware and open minded about looking at situations from more then one perspective.
Bibliography:
(Wiki-Ethos) "Ethos." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 July 2014. Web. 20 July 2014.
"Ethos - Definition and Examples." Literary Devices. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 July 2014.
(NickelandDimed)Ehrenreich, Barbara. "Scrubbing in Maine." Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan, 2001. 117-18. Print.
(NickelandDimed)Ehrenreich, Barbara. "Selling in Minnesota." Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan, 2001. 120-23. Print.
