Toni morrison Essay PDF

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rhetorical essay...

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1 A.P. English Language Composition 2 February 2016 Tony Morrison’s Rhetorical Effectiveness From the very first sentence, novelist and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison sets out with a clear purpose: to publicly endorse her choice for the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate. Addressing not only Senator Obama but Democrats in general, Morrison immediately grabs her audience’s attention with negative connotation that compels the reader to feel emotions of near panic, as if there is no time to waste. Her word-choice, such as “peril” and “crises,” establishes a form of pathos that makes the audience aware of some urgency to the situation; a call to action is created through these words. Aside from the obvious part of the subject of the upcoming presidential elections, Morrison’s true focus remains on Senator Obama as a person and as an American, not as a politician. She uses this concept as a driving force in her logic, explaining that a great leader must first have the qualities that she attributed to the Senator. She emphasizes her own ethos significantly less than Senator Obama’s, in an attempt to show the world his morality and strong character; it is through her reasoning that she builds her own ethos by showing the skill and articulacy of her writing, using wit and clear rationality. Already having a widely known automatic ethos, the reader easily follows and believes in her argument and purpose throughout the letter. First clarifying the justification of her choice and praising Obama’s opponent Senator Hillary Clinton, Morrison disputes the counterargument involving Barack Obama’s race. She forces the audience to see him as a man of the people who has the potential to be a wise and just president. Finally wrapping up her letter with the sentence “Good luck to you and to us,” Morrison unites her

2 Democratic readers to join the fight and endorse Obama like she is. By showing Americans her understanding of his qualifications, Toni Morrison uses effective rhetoric to leave limited room for doubt in the minds of her audience in her reasoning for choosing Senator Obama as the 2008 democratic candidate....