Ra of Serving in Florida

Serving in Florida is an essay written by Barbara Ehrenreich that is a first-hand experience by the author in the world of working minimum wage jobs. The author tried to balance two low paying jobs in order to make ends meet. Ehrenreich mainly uses pathos, or the emotional appeal, in her essay to persuade young adults to go to college and strive for high paying jobs and uses ethos, the ethical appeal as the secondary rhetorical appeal in her essay to convince her readers that she is indeed a credible author. Teenagers and young adults are the two main age groups of Ehrenreich’s intended audience. That specific age group faces many challenges from whether or not to graduate high school to whether or not to go to college. Ehrenreich chose this audience because persons belonging to this age group are old enough to understand the consequences of their life choice. In contrast, persons of this age group are still young enough to make naïve mistakes. This directs the attention toward the author’s purpose. Ehrenreich’s purpose in her research and writing is to effectively persuade young adults to go to college and strive for more then minimum wage in their lives. Her essay is based on her personal experience while working undercover in low paying jobs in Florida. The author endured this “experience” in order to get a better understanding of the topic and to connect with her readers in a more effective, truthful way. Ehrenreich’s main goal in writing her essay is to inform readers that life is hard for a low paid working class American. In addition, the author’s purpose is to persuade young adults that settling for a minimum wage job is not their only option, and that everyone has the opportunity to succeed in society There are three main rhetorical appeals: ethical, emotional, and logical. The three are commonly referred to as ethos, pathos, and logos. Ehrenreich’s essay Serving in Florida highlights one primary rhetorical appeal: pathos, and