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Ahmad Nazar

Professor Kelly Slivka

English 250

Assignment 4

2 March 2017

On the 28th of July, 2016, The New York Times published an opinion-based article written

by Anna Sauerbrey called Germany, Caught Between Two Violent Extremists. The author talks

about events of terrorism that occurred in Germany. Sauerbrey gives facts, evidence to support

the facts and her opinion about Germany and cosmopolitanism. This article is intended for the

general public of the world because Sauerbrey provides the reader with background information

on Germany. Sauerbrey also mentions the publics reaction following these attacks and the

decisions that leaders make at the cost of fear and loss of German reputation. Sauerbrey uses

ethos, pathos and logos to support her argument in this article. Her argument in the article is to

present her fear of Germany falling to radical decisions at the cost of terrorism as well as losing

its cosmopolitan image. Sauerbrey uses pathos to convince the audience for the majority of her

points.

The organization of the article is coherent with the content. It is organized to introduce

the terrorist events in Germany first and then factual evidence on the attacks are presented. Then,

Sauerbrey provides the reaction of the public as well herself, and she then talks about the

possible costs of these terrorist attacks. This organization helps the flow of information and gives

the readers background information on Germany in order to help them understand the stakes of

recent events. In addition, this builds an image in the readers mind that Germany is indeed open
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and accepting of the diverse cultures of the world. For example, in the first line of the first

paragraph, welcoming hundreds of refugees Sauerbrey proves that Germany is a

cosmopolitan country. And in the same paragraph, Sauerbrey is surprised by the publics radical

decision of wanting to have border control to prevent further attacks, to the point where there are

anti-refugee groups. She also includes a rhetorical question in the third paragraph which makes

the reader question her argument.. The rhetorical question helps the reader think about the crisis

that the author is going through. In addition, it also allows the reader to further analyze the

subject of the article. These two quotes present Sauerbreys emotions to the readers. This helps

the readers understand what Sauerbrey is feeling and gives a strong pathos element to the

argument.

Since this article is opinion based, it is natural that the authors personal take on the

subject is visible to the reader. Sauerbrey includes both her opinions and emotions. She creates a

pathos in her argument in order to keep the reader engaged. In the eleventh paragraph, Sauerbrey

shows that she is afraid that Germany is being more accepting of this new character that it has

claimed. She mentions in the eleventh paragraph that Germany had a Given our history, we

have always been aware of its fragility; but in recent decades we have been more confident about

our relatively new selves even, dare we say, proud of what Germany is today. This implies

the shock in the author of what recent events have succumbed to. In the ninth paragraph,

Sauerbrey uses a metaphor of a shedding of a childs illusion of being inviolable. This

metaphor gives the reader an idea of what it feels like to be a native German cosmopolitan that is

proud of the ceasing to exist open minded German reputation. This metaphor also strengthens the

argument. Sauerbrey expresses a feeling that everyone senses at a certain period in their life. On
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the other hand, she also includes the negative end of the spectrum. She provides the reader with

depressing responses of the public. In the 7th paragraph, Sauerbrey gives the opinion of a fellow

citizen in the form of a tweet, Merkel, thank you for terrorism. This makes the reader confused

about Germanys cosmopolitan reputation. It makes the reader think twice about how open

Germany is. In addition, Sauerbrey rarely mentions how the public still want the German

openness. Sauerbrey only brings in her own feelings and she only gives accounts of those who

want to dispose the German reputation. This keeps the reader attracted but builds a negative

image of parts of the German public.

Sauerbrey uses the contemporary German reputation to aid in building her argument of

shock at the outcome of concurrent events. This acts as a form of logos and ethos. She gives the

reader background information as credibility of Germanys reputation. Using the eleventh

paragraph again, she mentions that this reputation took time to solidify and it is a great loss to

have it leave at the cost of economic adversity. Sauerbrey also brings statistics as a form of logos

to convince the reader of the possible outcomes at the cost of these terrorist events. For example

in the fifth paragraph, she mentions that 73 percent of Germans surveyed in April and May said

they feared terrorism This proves that her expressed fear in the argument is sadly becoming

more and more true. Sauerbrey is expressing to the audience that this is not the Germany that

was once open and diverse.

The ending paragraph is written with a strong pathos element: the authors own fear. She

gives the audience her fearful realization that in the near future, Germanys built up reputation of

being a diverse and open country may be lost. This is emphasized when she states, the only way

to truly prevent such attacks is to renounce the freedom and openness that make modern
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Germany worth defending. This ending paragraph is the strongest because it is emphasized with

one of the dominant emotions, fear.

Germany, Caught Between Two Violent Extremists by Anna Sauerbrey is a strong

opinion-based article that talks about the fear of losing Germanys cosmopolitan reputation.

Sauerbrey begins by stating brief descriptions of the terrorist attacks. This immediately attracts

the reader. The organization of the argument strengthens the article and gives the reader a clear,

concise and chronological flow of information that makes the article more understandable and

effective. In addition she provides both negative responses of the public and her own positive

response to the event by providing statistics, accounts and metaphors. Readers feel the emotions

that Sauerbrey is expressing through her words. This is also reflected in the strong ending

paragraph. The argument can be more effective by including the opinions of patriots who want to

keep Germanys strong and open reputation.

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Works Cited:

Sauerbrey, Anna. Germany, Caught Between Two Violent Extremists. The New York Times. 28

July 2016. https://nyti.ms/2awlfH7