The Pleasures Of Eating Rhetorical Analysis

Aristotle once defined rhetoric as “an ability, in each particular case, to see the means of persuasion” or in a simpler term, “persuasion.” The use of rhetoric dates back centuries all the way to ancient Greece. Rhetoric is simply used for everyday communication. It can be defined by three concepts: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Logos, Ethos and Pathos is explained in simpler terms as text, author, and audience. These concepts are the back bone of modern day rhetoric and are used to strengthen a rhetorical situation or argument. Rhetoric in turn fuels the concept of critical thinking or analyzing that are useful tools to help determine the validity and soundness of Rhetorical situations. In a glance, critical thinking is the act of identifying …show more content…
To those who share the same viewpoint as Berry will applause and commend this essay because it goes hand in hand with their sympathetic and bias views on the American food industry. However, the “Urban consumer”, which is his intended audience, will find the call to action that Wendell Berry so easy puts it a lot easier said than done. Berry’s approach to the issue puzzles me because he goes about in a way that is critical and extremely bias on the issue instead of being understanding and methodical about the problems his audience is facing along with failing to establish common ground with his intended audience. He criticizes before offering any solution to the problem. Throughout this essay, Wendell Berry will come across as illogical to the readers he attempts to persuade by overgeneralizing his assumptions and reasons in “The Pleasures of Eating” along with providing a lack of supportive evidence to solidify his assertions. This use of oversimplification broadens the categories within the essay which do not adequately qualify his ideas in a persuasive manner. This in turn distances and weakens Berry’s credibly to the reader. Therefore, he does an inadequate job in expressing his ideas and solutions to the “Urban …show more content…
He provides little to no solid evidence to back up these straightforward yet discriminating assumptions which in turn weaken the credibility and persuasiveness Berry is trying to achieve. With the examples above, the condescending tone and excessive use of overgeneralization is apparent throughout. His explanations are way too broad and will be considered to be farfetched from the views of his intended audience. His constant use of criticism and overgeneralization mainly found in the middle of his essay diverts the intended audience away from his persuasion which in turn automatically diversifies his credibility as a writer. The constant use of overgeneralization overpowered the main point of “The Pleasures of Eating.”
The overall purpose of “The Pleasures of Eating” was to persuade its targeted audience, “urban consumer” to eat healthier, but instead he fails to persuade the intended wavering audience who he describes as the “Urban consumer” due to his constant use of overgeneralization. Wendell Berry does however appeal to his sympathetic audience who are most likely supporters of the Ecoliteracy website who share his same ideas. Wendell Berry let’s his bias’s consume his writing technique to the point where it’s use of persuasion is little to