Forms of appeal in Text 3

Overview

Forms of appeal are rhetorical strategies that help Lucie Morris-Mar tell her story. The article is constructed using a combination of logos (appeal to reason), ethos (appeal to trust and authority), and pathos (appeal to emotions). Logos and pathos, however, are most prominent in the article.

Logos

The writer appeals to logos whenever she uses logical reasoning and facts to support her statements.

For example, she provides a logical explanation of how she and her husband ended up naming their children differently from her original plans:

The husband is still in shock (…). And as a new mum you are mostly tearful, hormonal and waiting for the milk to start flowing. In short, you are both actually in no state of mind to be making major decisions about the lifetime identity for your future child. (ll. 17-27)

Another example of logical reasoning is when the writer tries to explain how she and her husband decided on the names “Talia” and “Nathaniel”. She remembers that Nathaniel might have been inspired b...