Joshua Pangilinan

May 6, 2016
Rhetorical Analysis
The following passage is written by a French immigrant, named John de Crevecoeur,
who traveled to the American colonies around the 1780s. The essay Crevecoeur wrote talks
about how he describes America compared to his homeland, Europe. Throughout the passage
the speaker seems to not build any credibility. Without the appeal to ethos the speaker has no
credibility to convince the reader on how America is compared to Europe.
The message Crevecoeur attempts to send is that Europe was unable to provide the
nourishment needed to live. Crevecoeur states a country had no bread for him, whose fields
provided him no harvest and Europe there were as so many useless plants. These quotes
show that Europe did not provide any essentials to Crevecoeur. After the first paragraph
Crevecoeur further states his country (America) is now that which gives him land, bread,
protection, and consequences; Ubi panis ibi patria is the motto of all emigrants. What
Crevecoeur is saying is that America is supplying him with all these items needed to live his
lifestyle, while Europe could not give. Also he even states Ubi panis ibi patria, meaning, from the
footnote, where there is bread, there is homeland. Showing that Crevecoeur feels that AMerica
is his new home and he is able to adjust into a new this new homeland. Making Crevecoeurs
claim that America is better than Europe.
Throughout the essay Crevecoeur uses question to construct his argument. Crevecoeur
uses a Q and A kind of strategy to bring his points into the essay. Throughout the first paragraph
he questions himself on certain things of Europe and then answers to what his opinion or life
was in Europe. He uses the questions to put his cons of Europe into the essay. Then in the next
paragraph Crevecoeur uses the same technique to portray the pros of America. The tone
throughout the whole passage, however, seems to be frustrated at what he had to deal with in
Europe. The speaker uses exclamation marks to indicate a loud tone. The diction of the
passage seems that the speaker wanted to make Europe sound bad with using the word
useless.