Lonliness of the interconnected

Assignment 1

Parker Wallace

            In the short story, The Loneliness of the interconnected, the author, Charles Seife, uses ethos, pathos, and logos to obtain credibility, appeal to the readers’ emotions, and to seem logical. Beginning before the start of the story, Seife inserts a quote by Cass Sunstein. This gives the article credibility by using a variety of people and sources to get the author’s point across. He makes further use of this tactic by referencing phycologist Leon Festinger multiple times throughout the story. Along with building the article’s credibility by using a scientist and doctor as a reference, this tactic also makes use of logos. When the reader sees a doctor is speaking on a subject, they tend to listen and believe it based on his credentials, which provide a logical insight on the topic.  Seife makes use of pathos on page 357 by referencing a study that focused on a housewife. This appeals to the reader’s emotions by mentioning a character that is easily relatable to. As a male, I can’t relate to her as a woman, but I can relate to her by her occupation and social status as I am a middle-class individual. He later references a high school student and YouTube Phenom. As the reader, the author appeals to my emotions because I’ve been in high school and publicly embarrassed before, so I feel for the kid. Nearly the entire article appeals to logic because of all the facts presented. This strategy goes along with ethos because while the facts appeal to the readers’ logic, the references to doctors also gives the article high credibility. In conclusion, the author uses ethos, pathos, and logos very strategically. These tactics aid him in relaying factual arguments to the reader while coming across as very intelligent and appealing to their emotions.