RUNNING HEAD: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

Rhetorical Analysis

Micheal Comer

University of Texas El Paso

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Abstract

This paper will discuss how the three rhetorical elements have an effect on the author and will

show all three elements and will have examples of how they were used by the author to show the

audiences of this paper that the author is affected by the three rhetorical elements ethos ,pathos,

and logos. This paper will also show the audiences the evidence of why the author is affected by

the rhetorical elements and his claim on psychological equilibrium and looking past gross

domestic product gains to show the cause of internet addiction.

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Rhetorical Analysis

The rhetorical elements have an effect on the author, Elias Aboujaoude in his book,

Virtually You (2011) by using ethos, pathos, and logos in his book. This paper will show the how

the author is affected by the three-rhetorical elements throughout this paper. This paper will

discuss the authors argument on psychological equilibrium and looking past gross domestic

product gains show how the authors beliefs on internet addiction are linked with the three

elements throughout this paper.

Audience

This paper will be discussing both of the audiences for this book. One of the tones the

author uses in his book is the author talks about why internet addiction isn’t healthy for people

and in the beginning of the book the author gives us a hint that the audience is scholarly and lay

from the preface of the book. The author uses his knowledge to show what audience he is

referring to in the book by using specific words both professional and non-professional (p. 9-12).

In the book the author is speaking in a scholarly way because the type of tone the author is using

(p. 214). The audience of this book is scholarly and lay because the preface of the book the

author talks about college and reports and telling the audience that you’re probably reading

because you were assigned to read about his topic on his book. Those words tell the reader that

he is talking to a scholarly and lay audience in his book in (p. 9-10).

Ethos

The author demonstrates credibility in his book by showing the scholarly and lay

audience the effects of internet addiction and e- personality to show that the rhetorical element is

used in his book (p. 50). The author talks about his experience with the people he has helped and

how for many years he has been helping people with an internet addiction problem. This paper
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shows that the author uses his experience to prove that he is right and knows what he is doing

because of his different situations and experiences with different people he has worked with. On

(p. 65) of the book the author tells his experiences and the question he has asked his patients he

has worked with. The author is showing ethos by persuading the audience with his experiences

with different patients thought out the whole chapter two of his book. In chapter twelve (p. 284)

of the book the author talks about why he is helping people who are lost in the internet and how

he is using these different types of methods to the type of help different people who are obsessed

with the internet. The author uses his argument against psychological equilibrium and looking

past gross domestic product to get his point across to the audience.

Pathos

In chapter one of the book the author shows emotion by giving a scenario of his college

friend and her boyfriend (p. 17). The couple stopped dating because of the internet and emails

from each other due to the distance they were from each other during their relationship. the

author tells us about the changes of their relationship and how their e-personality changed in

their relationship from good too bad. In chapter one the author uses her friend to show that the

rhetorical elements are used in this book to get to the point of the story and show the effect of e-

personality (p. 21). The author strongly uses pathos in the book by giving examples of his friend

and a little back ground of his live and giving the audience a lot of emotion in two-chapter (p.

47) showing another example of pathos the author uses his personal experience of why the

internet is bad for your health and what the internet can do to your real life and the changes that

happen when using the internet to much.

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Logos

The author uses logic to show the effects of internet addiction of on (p. 19) of the book

by giving us facts from the University Of South California Annenberg School for

communications and from other sources. In the book the author uses the facts and argument

about psychological equilibrium and looking past gross domestic to get to his point that internet

addiction is very unhealthy for anyone in the world today. The author uses specific dates and

information to show the audience that excessive use of the internet can affect the way your life is

and your health, as you continue to use the internet instead of living in the real world. In chapter

two of the book the author persuades the audience with sources that have proven that being on

the inter net to long can cause anyone’s health and life to fall apart if you live on the internet

instead of living in the real world (p. 55). In the book the author uses patients he has worked with

dissociative disorders and people with other disorders to show the audience that there are

different stages of being addicted to the internet (p. 36). Given the information from the author

he is persuading the audience to rethink about the internet after showing what the different

affects and stages that happen when used to much.

Conclusion

The rhetorical elements influence the author because the author persuades the scholarly

audience with all three rhetorical elements in the book by putting all three together to persuade

the scholarly and laid audience to make them see that the internet has its good and bad flaws

towards people who use the internet a lot more than other people. The author also illustrates the

different real-life situation to pull the scholarly and laid audience in, to show them that internet

addiction can be hard to recover from if you don’t receive help from anyone. This shows and

describes why the author is affected by all the elements and shows the proof to get the direct
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point to the scholarly and laid audience so that when both audiences read this paper they will see

the message more clearer see what the author’s message is trying to show and say to them.
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References

Aboujaoude, Elias. MD (2011). VIRTUALLY YOU. New York: W.W Norton & Company
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