Question

IS THERE ANYONE THAT CAN READ OVER AND CRITIQUE MY RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY?!?!

Answer 1

In Slate Magazine’s article “How Rich Are Poor People?” by Brian Palmer, Palmer takes us through his statistically backed personal argument on the poor people of America on whether they are or not actually that poor in today’s society. Palmer uses the Census Bureau as his main source for establishing his credibility throughout his article. What Palmer fails to do is to take into account on what the poor have to say about this issue, which shows readers Palmer’s bias views toward the issue. Even with his approach to the issue Palmer article presents his audience with facts in his statistical quotations from the Census Bureau, which becomes appealing to the reader in which it shows Palmers credibility. Also relvance becomes one of Palmers greatest appeals to the audience in his use of modern examples in which it ties in with his ethos that gives his article an appealing approach to a reader.
Palmer begins his article by establishing his creditbility with a statstic by the Census Bureau ,”More than 46 million Americans are now living below the poverty threshold, according to numbers released by the Census Bureau.” This approach gives readers something to think about as Palemrwilllaterbegin questioning what the poverty threshold should be defined as. The use of this particular statstic in which a large number like ‘46 million’ gives the reader something to be amazed about and keeping the back of their mind as they read on. The use of the word ‘ released’ by Palmer shows the urgency and top priority by the Census Bureau in pointing this fact makes the readers to be even more drawn in by the importance of the statisitc. Palmer later states and ends his intro by refering to the statistic saying it was the “highest number since the Bureau started keeping track o fthe statistic in 1959”. But ties in that statement with “Are poor people better off now than they were 52 years ago?” This makes the reader think if that statistic should be read differently now that Palmer has brought into his article his key point which is his comparison of “ now and then. This approach gets the readers wondering on how life in America has changed in the last 52 years, making the reader already side with Palmer before he even gives his answer to his question.
Into the next paragraph Palmer again shows that he is a man of credibility by giving us a statistical statement on why the poor do have it better now than 52 years ago. But if we step back and go to the actual first words used by Palmer in starting this paragraph “Much better”, in which Palmer is answering his question from the intro on whether or not poor people are better off now than 52 years ago, gives Palmers stance on the issue not even being questionable. The almost authoritative approach by Palmer in this paragraph makes the reader understand Palmer’s point and not to question it. Palmer’s use of relevance , “ poor children usually have a video game system. More than 38 percent of poor people have a personal computer.”, brings into the readers mind that “ yes that is true, poor people can’t afford things like this if they were really poor” because it causes the reader to automatically think of how items like the video game system and computer are expensive.
In an almost after thought sort of way Palmer dedicates a whole paragraph in which it is nothing but him giving statstics and statements on why the poor actually have it good and are living an almost middle class life. This approach bombardes the readr with credible facts giving the reader a, “yes yes yes I agree”, response in which there is no room for the reader to debate Palmer this far into the article. This also becomes a logical approach in which Palmer basically states that if one had any sign of intellect there would be no reason to deny these facts, almost pushing the reader into a corner in which they are not thinking for themselves just blindly agreeing with Palmer.
To show that he is not just focused on materialistic objects, in which most of the article is, Palmer provides a paragraph on which it is dedicated to calorie and nutrient intake and that the the people defined as poor are equally nourishment to the middle class. Palmer points out that, “undernourishment is rare in the United States today”, this provides the reader with a quick less likely known fact in which it is as if Palmer is trying to convince the sympathizers who are reading the article that they shouldn’t show all that much sympathy in which the word ‘nourishment’ is key. It is the key word that differs people who are hungry for a certain moment in the day to those that are malnourished which heard more about in poverty stricken areas in Africa and Asia, and Palmer wants to make those distinctions without having to directly say it.
The use of emotional appeal can be said to be used by Palmer in which he talks about poor children, just because in general people tend to feel a greater emotional attraction to children if they are in danger or in unjust situations. In Palmer’s case it is about the quantity of nutrients poor children receive in comparison to middle class children in which Palmer writes, “….poor children get about the same quantity of nutrients as middle-class children. Palmer also drags this appeal in which he adds on a quote by Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation that “poor children now ‘ grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.’” Basically stating that the children defined as poor are quite healthy now but the use of that quote can be debatable on the basis of it was even necessary to use even though it doesn’t seem to help or hurt Palme in making his points.
In a change from his previous approach of giving facts and statistics Palmer begins his second to last paragraph in a different approach in which he wants to define and change the meaning to word poor instead of him giving facts and statistics. Palmer presents the statement, “Many economists believe that poverty should be mesasured relative to the wealth of a society.” In this statemtn Palmer basacially points out to the reader that if they did not catch on to what he was trying to indeirectly state in his previous pargarphas, poverty in the 21st century is not what its cracked up to be, that this was a simpler and direct way of stating it. The use of this statement I believe would have helped Palmer if places as his introduction sentence to one his three previous paragraphs to give the reader another smilar but at the same time a different perspective to what Palmer is stating.
The conclusion of Palmer’s article is very brieft and does not I believe do a great job of summarizing his thoughts from his introduction and body but just ends with another statistical statement in which Palmer constantly keeps using whether it be as his introduction sentence or, in this case and previous instances, an ending sentence. For a reader this could affect the way they really do think about Palmer’s credibility in which Palmer brings a strong ethos to his paper at first with his statisitics and facts but because of his cnstatn use of it it made it seem as if Palmer did not hae a mind of his own but just copied and pasted facts only. Ending his article with no strong support besides his overwhelming use of facts can also show to the reader that Palmer has just run out of what to say on his personal view of whe he is trying to answer which is “Are the poor better off today than they used to be?” ( Palmer).
Palmer’s rhetorical strategies of relevance, credibility, logic and in some cases emotion are uccesful in his one frame of mind article. Palmers does a great job of teeing in his credibility with logic as he repedality states that facts he finds even if he refers mainly to one of his sources for most of his facts which was the Census Bureau. The author’s use of relevance aslo plays a crucial part in tieing in his groundwork of ‘21st century’ and ‘now and then’ to the article giving the readrs a connection to their lifes. In the end he use of these strategies does an effective job for Palmer’s case in his case of persuasion.

Answer 2

Here are the corrections I have made:

In Slate Magazine’s article “How Rich Are Poor People?” by Brian Palmer, the author takes us through his statistically backed, personal argument on poor people in America; he discusses whether or not they are actually poor, in today’s society. Palmer uses the Census Bureau as his main source, throughout his article, for establishing his credibility.

What Palmer fails to do is to take into account what the poor have to say about this issue, which shows his bias.

Despite his personal feelings on the issue, Palmer's article presents his audience with facts, through statistical quotations from the Census Bureau; this appeals to his readers because it shows his credibility.

Also, relevance becomes one of Palmers greatest appeals to his audience; he uses modern examples, which tie in with his ethos, to make his article interesting to his readers.

Palmer begins his article by establishing his credibility with a statistic. ”More than 46 million Americans are now living below the poverty threshold, according to numbers released by the Census Bureau.” This type of statistic is meant to shock the audience. This approach gives readers something to think about as Palmer later questions what the poverty threshold should be defined as.

Palmer later ends his introduction by referring to the statistic, saying it was the “highest number since the Bureau started keeping track... in 1959.” He also ties in that statement with “Are poor people better off now then they were 52 years ago?” This makes his readers think that statistics should be read differently now that Palmer has brought into his article his comparison of “now and then." This approach gets his readers wondering how life in America has changed in the last 52 years, making them side with Palmer before he even gives his answer to the question.

In the next paragraph, Palmer again shows that he is a man of credibility by giving us a statistical statement on why the poor are better off now, than they were 52 years ago. But, let's step back to the actual first words used by Palmer, in starting this paragraph. “Much better,” is his answer to the question posed in his introduction; are the poor better off, today, than they were 52 years ago? This answer shows us what Palmers stance on the issue is. The almost authoritative approach by Palmer, in this paragraph, lets the reader understand Palmer’s point of view, and not question it. Palmer’s use of relevance, in this paragraph, is his statement that “poor children usually have a video game system. More than 38 percent of poor people have a personal computer.” This puts doubt into the minds of his readers. They start to think, “yes that is true. People couldn't afford things like that if they were really poor.”

Almost as an afterthought, Palmer dedicates a whole paragraph in which he quotes statistics, and statements about why the poor are living an almost middle-class lifestyle. This approach bombards the reader with credible facts, giving the reader a “yes, yes, yes, I agree” response. It seems as though there is not room for debate. This also becomes a logical approach, in which Palmer states that if one had any sign of intellect there would be no reason to deny these facts. This approach pushes the reader into a corner, in which they are not thinking for themselves.

To show that he is not only focused on materialistic objects, Palmer provides a paragraph that is dedicated to calorie and nutrient intake. He states that the people defined as poor are as equally nourished as the middle class. Palmer points out that, “undernourishment is rare in the United States today.” This provides the reader with a quick, little-known fact to try to convince them that they shouldn’t show sympathy in this area. He specifically mentions The United States. This is to distinguish between us, and people of poverty-stricken places in Africa, or Asia, for example. Palmer wants to make those distinctions without having to directly say it.

The use of emotional appeal is used by Palmer when he talks about poor children. He says, in general, people tend to feel a greater emotional attraction to children if they are in danger, or in unjust situations. In Palmer’s case, it is about the quantity of nutrients poor children receive in comparison to middle class children. Palmer writes, "... poor children get about the same quantity of nutrients as middle-class children." Palmer adds more emotional appeal with a quote from Robert Rector, of the Heritage Foundation; “poor children now ‘grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.’” in summary, it is stating that the children defined as poor are quite healthy now. But the use of that quote is debatable because it doesn’t seem to help or hinder Palmer's argument.
A change from his previous approach of giving facts and statistics, Palmer begins his second to last paragraph with a different approach. Here, he defines and changes the meaning of the word 'poor.' Palmer presents the statement, “Many economists believe that poverty should be measured relative to the wealth of a society.” In this statement, Palmer points out, to his readers that poverty in the 21st century is not what its cracked up to be. He says he has a simpler and more direct way of stating it. The use of this statement, I believe, would have helped Palmer if placed as his introduction sentence to one his three previous paragraphs.

The conclusion of Palmer’s article is very brief and does not, I believe, do a great job of summarizing his thoughts. It ends with another statistic, which Palmer seems to use as a crutch. This could affect his audience's acceptance of his credibility. Palmer brings a strong ethos to his paper with his statistics and facts, but his constant use of it made it seem as though he did not have a mind of his own.

Palmer’s rhetorical strategies of relevance, credibility, logic, and, in some cases, emotion are unsuccessful in his one-frame-of-mind article. Palmer does a great job of tying in his credibility with logic by repeatedly stating facts from the Census Bureau. The author’s use of relevance also plays a crucial part in tying in his groundwork of ‘21st century’ and ‘now and then’ to the article, giving the readers a connection to their lives. In the end, his use of these strategies does an effective job for Palmer’s case of persuasion.

Answer 3

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :)