Emotions such as anger sorrow love and sympathy all

emotions as a tool for persuasion. Emotions such as anger, sorrow, love, and sympathy all can be
used by an author to persuade audiences. In as much as this is the least used rhetoric appeal,
authors still make good use of it (Killingsworth, 2005, p. 251). In the article, “Offensive Play:
How Different are Dogfighting and Football,” Gladwell introduces the section on dogfighting to
make such a pathetic appeal. The analysis of dogfighting in the article depicts the gruesome
ordeal dogs go through as they battle for people’s amusement. These gruesome details make use
of people’s loving and sympathetic emotions to persuade them on the dangers of this event. Later
on, the dogfighting scene is related to the football experience. The author closely ties this
pathetic appeal to logical appeal. That is, logic helps indicate that Americans hating dogfighting
due to its risks should also hate football as it poses similarly life-threatening risks (Gladwell,
2019). These rhetorics persuade audiences about the information passed and the importance of
being informed about the same.
Gladwell effectively uses rhetorical appeals to persuade audiences about the importance
of being informed about risks footballers face. More specifically, the writer uses logical, ethical,
and pathetic appeals to make a case for his objective of informing people about the dangers
involved in the game. The analysis of Gladwell’s article helps in understanding how rhetorics can
be best prepared. All other works of rhetoric can use strategies used in Gladwell’s article.

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References
Bargiela-Chiappini, F. (2009). Rhetorical analysis. In Handbook of Business Discourse (pp. 68-
79). Edinburgh University Press.
Gladwell, M. (2009, October 11). Offensive play: How different are dogfighting and
football? The New Yorker . -
play
Houser, R. E. (2019). The three rhetorical Appeals. In Logic as a liberal art: An introduction to
rhetoric and reasoning (pp. 35-49). Catholic University of America Press.
Killingsworth, M. J. (2005). Rhetorical Appeals: A Revision. Rhetoric Review , 24 (3), 249-
263.