Assignment Task:
Select either Troy Wiggin's essay, "A Letter to My City," or his essay, "A Tale of Two Cities" to analyze. I want you to select one of the two rhetorical appeals for the analysis you offer in the discussion--use either pathos or ethos. Then, find as many examples of either pathos or ethos as you can in the article you discuss and list those with page numbers; you can give them as quotes with the page numbers (either use bullet points or number these). After you have created your list of the examples of the rhetorical appeal you selected, then I want you to answer these questions:
1) Did the author's use of the rhetorical appeal persuade you to his point of view (persuade you to accept his argument)? Why or why not? Here you may have to also consider perspectives you had on Memphis prior to reading Wiggins' essay (in which case feel free to discuss your prior perspectives as well).
2) If you were critiquing the author's article and giving the author suggestions for how to revise his argument, what suggestions would you offer? This could be how to include an example that perhaps you thought of, but the author did not include. This could be a new example of a similar situation that fits the author's argument but that transpired after the article was written and published. This could be to use the rhetorical appeal in a new and surprising way that you believe would add to the essay or the author's argument. This could be to reconsider a position that the author has taken. This is open to your interpretation as a critical reader of how you would suggest revisions to the article. This helps us to practice thinking critically about how to revise a piece of writing and aids with further considering ways that arguments can always be "tweaked." This is not to say that there is anything amiss or incorrect with the author's argument or essay; it is simply for us to consider how arguments continue to evolve with new examples and new ways of using rhetorical appeals.