How Guilaine Kinouani engages the reader

To establish how Guilaine Kinouani engages the reader in “Why black women feel so betrayed by Rachel Dolezal”, you should look at the author’s argumentation and use of rhetorical devices.

Argumentation & Forms of appeal

To engage the readers, the author uses both open and closed (hidden) argumentation and appeals to them through ethos, logos, and pathos.

Hidden argumentation

The beginning of the article employs hidden argumentation which is created through an anecdote, seemingly unrelated to the title and the topic. While describing a hypothetical case of a psychologist lying to a client that he/she has been through the same as the client to get the latter open up, Kinouani raises the interest of the readership and creates an analogy with Rachel Dolezal’s case.

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Ethos

To enhance her message and further engage readers and persuade them of her arguments, the author also appeals to ethos (authority and moral values) by letting readers know that she is qualified to comment on Dolezal’s actions, “both as a black woman and as a psychologist.” (ll. 43-44).

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Rhetorical devices

Other techniques used to engage the reader are related to rhetorical devices, language features usually used to help frame the arguments in a more convincing manner. Here, we will focus on the following:

• Rhetorical questions
• Anecdote and parallel
• Sarcasm and irony

Anecdote and parallel

The anecdote at the beginning of the article is also a rhetorical device designed to draw readers in.

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