English 1
A Letter to the Chairman of the Drake School Board – Rhetorical Analysis
ANSWER
Rhetorical Analysis
The letter to the drake school board by Kurt Vonnegut specifically addresses Mr McCarthy and attempts to address to express why it is wrong that his books are being burnt to save the students from evil readings.
The purpose of the letter is to explain to the board that his readings are not evil. He articulates that he did not mean any evil by writing his books and that the coarse words used in the books are not any worse than those used in real life. The audience of the letter is meant for the board members of the drake school.
Kurt Vonnegut appeals to logos when he explains that the words used in the books are not any different from the ones that are already used in real life. He also explains that it is not the coarse words that hurt the children but the lying deeds and the evil deeds (Vonnegut, 1981). He also plies pathos in his writing when he talks about his children and that he has raised them all and they have turned out right (Kay, 2020). The fact that he has adopted three children particularly appeals to pathos because kit humanizes him and shows that he is not evil, and neither are his books.
The letter also appeals to ethos. He talks about his work being some of the most used work in the American schools than any other American fiction writer (Wrobel, 2017). He also talks about his service to the country and that he has a purple heart, and therefore there is no way his books could be evil.
Applying all the rhetorical techniques works in this letter and therefore helps him make a good argument. He reveals that whatever is written in his books is nothing out of the ordinary and depicts real life.
References
Kay, E. (2020). Ethos, logos and pathos-the makings of a great research paper?.
Vonnegut, K. (1981). A Letter to Drake. Bill Rts J., 14, 15.
Wróbel, S. (2017). Logos, Ethos, Pathos or Politics of Errors. In Traces of Violence and Freedom of Thought (pp. 35-55). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
