Rhetorical Analysis Essay The Clan of One-Breasted Women PDF

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The Author of this Essay Terry Tempest Williams, is a mother, Mormon, Cancer Survivor, and author. This essay that she wrote was part of a book that was written in 1991 and published at Pantheon books, a division of Random House Inc. Williams writes a clear call for help from, women, cancer survivors, those who want to fight for justice, those that have to live with the effects of the nuclear testing, and anyone else who truly wants to make a difference. Not only is it a call for help, but it is a strong demand for change. A stand up against the government, or as she would say the “King” as she compares things that our government is doing to what a monarchy would do.

Williams essay starts out with her introducing herself by saying she belongs to a clan of one -breasted Women. Williams talks about how cancer has affected her family; she talks about how it has affected her. Cancer is part of her family history. Williams talks about cancer statistics, what could cause it, and then how her religion makes a difference in the health of its members. Speaking statistically Mormons have a lower chance of getting cancer. Williams wonders why that is. She goes on to tell about losing her mother; and the trip that she took a year later with her father. On that trip she told her father about a recurring dream, a dream that was in fact reality. He told her about the bomb that they had witnessed and how the government had been testing nuclear bomb in utah and nevada when she was really little. Williams does more research to find out that they had been doing it for years. The government tried to brush it off and convince people that it would not cause any problems. There would be no harm to the testing. But there was court cases saying that the nuclear testing had caused cancer. 10 people received compensation because these nuclear weapons caused on their bodies, but later the government overruled the case saying that it could be causing cancer. Williams then tells a story that starts off with a poem, a creative story that at first seems to be fiction, but later you find out it was her experience of when she went to the nuclear testing site. and even thought she was handcuffed and left in the middle of the desert she was at home with other women fighting for the same cause.

Author Terry Tempest Williams, makes a strong argument through Pathos, Ethos, and logos on how we should not sit back and let the government do whatever they want, especially when people are dying of cancer that could be a result of nuclear testing in Nevada, and Utah. Her organization, tone, voice, creativity and appeals bring strong emotion and consideration to what could be a serious problem the government is just brushing off. Her essay does so good at conveying emotion that you forget the amount of facts that our lacking from her essay. Her essay is very passionate, the use of pathos will cause one to think and want to take some form of action.

Her use of pathos in this essay can be found everytime she talks about her family. They are her main reason for her actions. Williams reason for writing this essay is because of her family and what they went through with cancer. She started the essay strong with emotion, pulling the readers in with sad stories of cancer destroying lives of her loved ones and affecting her own life. When she uses Logos she uses it to show how the government is destroying lives. The logos in her essay has less to do with if the nuclear testing is really causing cancer and more to do with her hate for the government. I don’t know if there is enough facts anywhere to show that the nuclear testing is in fact the cause of cancer in some people's lives but the one thing that she said in her essay that was the most logical was when she said “I can't prove that my mother Diane Dixon Tempest, or my Grandmothers ,,, Developed cancer from nuclear fallout in Utah. But I can’t prove that they didn’t.“ Even though there is not actual facts behind that statement it is still a very logical statement to make. You can’t prove that it did but you also can’t prove that it didn’t. She is not going to just sit back when it is all up in the air. When it comes to ethos you look at who she is and what she went through. She not only witnessed the cancer in her family's lives but also in her own life, I think the fact that so many people she loved got cancer plus herself gives her a reason to want answers.

The world choice that Williams in this essay is really important. You can tell by her word choice how she is feeling. When she is talking about the woman in her family her word choices are very respectful. Later when she is talking about the nuclear testing and the government you can tell by the wording choice used to tell that these things make her very angry. Williams compares the government to a monarch many times and then declares that is not going to sit back quietly like she has always been told. In conclusion Williams did well with the structure and creativity, it flowed well and was interesting. She pulls you in with sympathetic heart wrenching stories of her family, then she states the cause for her writing, rips into the government, and ends with a story that happened to her but puts a creative spin on it that makes it sound like a fictitious fairy tail. It is an essay that makes you think, makes you care deeply for her cause, but it might not last long when the curiosity she put into your mind grows and you start to wonder more about the facts, what really is happening, is she right? How extreme is the situation? what can I do? Her facts are more around the faults of the government then what caused the cancer in her family....