Ethos Pathos Logos

How Do Authors Try to Persuade Their Readers? Persuasion is an attempt to convince readers to agree with a point of view, to make a decision, or to pursue a particular course of action (Rosa 629). The essay “Antarctica Belongs to All of Us, That’s Why We Must Preserve It” written by Ellen Ratner shows an example of this. In her essay, she explains that Antarctica does not belong to any one nation, but to everyone. Ratner goes on to say that we cannot drill for oil, minerals, or turn the continent into a tourist attraction. Ratner describes the happenings in Antarctica's ecosystem today, and believes we should do everything we can to try and preserve this continent. In Ellen Ratner’s essay, “Antarctica Belongs to All of Us, That’s Why We Must Preserve It” she uses many persuasive strategies to change reader’s minds about inhabiting the land.
The use of emotion to persuade readers is known as pathos (Ethos, Pathos, Logos). For instance, Ratner states “If we mess up that legacy by building hotels, drilling, and mining we potentially mess up one of the most important resources to sustain human life there is” (Ratner). This quote is an example of pathos because she tries to make readers feel scared. Ratner does this by saying if we do these things in Antarctica, then we are contributing to the end of human life. An additional use of pathos occurs when Ratner mentions in her essay “It used to snow and not rain, but due to climate change there is rain in Antarctica flooding rookeries and even giving some penguins hypothermia” (Ratner). Here, pathos is found because it makes readers feel bad for the penguins. Nobody wants to see a cute little penguin get sick. Lastly, the word “Antarctica” conveys emotion. The word suggests images of penguins waddling around, which brings people to feel happy, or delightful. Each of these examples demonstrates how Ratner tries to compel her