Forms of appeal

Pathos

Anand Giridharadas’ 2015 TED talk, “A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided”, relies heavily on pathos. This can be seen in several ways.

Firstly, the topic itself is rather emotional since this is about the concept of the American Dream and people losing faith in it. Secondly, the majority of the talk centers on the story of Mark Stroman and Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a white supremacist and a Bangladeshi immigrant who met in a brutal attack. This personal focus sparks our interest and stirs emotions like anger or pity. In fact, the story of these two individuals makes up about 80 percent of the talk.

Thirdly, the choice of words is in indicator of pathos. Many of the words in the talk are either emotional, dramatic, or subjective. One example is this passage describing Bhuiyan right after being shot by Stroman: “Behind the counter, he lays in blood. He cups a hand over his forehead to keep in the brains on which he’d gambled everything. He recites verses from the Koran, begging his God to live.” (ll. 14-15). The entire scene calls for an emotional response, and words like “lays in blood” and “begging” stir our pity for this man. An example of subjective wording is when the speaker asks: “What can you do? What can we do? How might we build a more merciful c...