Justin Riches

Period 6

Mtrs. Balka’s class

Pre- AP English 9

Emma Watson’s Rhetorical Appeal

Through Emma Watson’s use of pathos, she is able to convey her purpose. In the

beginning of her speech, Watson states her view on gender inequality by giving

examples from her childhood that have emotionally affected her. This being a very

controversial topic in our society today, Watson uses these examples to emotionally

affect the audience's view. In her examples, she talks about early memories of not being

able to direct the plays, being sexualized by the media, and being stereotyped not

making it so her girlfriends didn’t want to play sports. These examples Watson uses to

convey her purpose are meant to emotionally persuade the audience to believe her

view of gender inequality. This being a use of pathos, she hopes this will change the
hearts of others and help them be more aware of gender equality in their daily lives as

well. In addition, later on in her speech, Watson once again conveys her view on gender

inequality through her use of pathos. In paragraph 10, Watson once again uses an

emotional affect to persuade others on her view. Using another example from her early

life, she explains her father going through challenges even as a male. She describes that

“...(her) father’s role as a parent is valued less by society, (10).” This being the case

throughout Emma Watson’s childhood, these events have emotionally changed her

view on gender inequality. She uses these examples to do the same to the audience

and to illustrate the reasoning in her speech. Through her use of pathos, Watson is able

to convey her statement in through the controversial topic of gender inequality.

In addition, Emma Watson also uses the rhetorical appeal of logos to sustain her

purpose in her speech. When referring to Hillary Clinton’s speech in 1997, Watson

brings up the many things that stood out to her in the speech which also supports her

opinion of gender inequality. The first thing that brought her attention was the fact that

“Less than thirty percent of the audience (of Clinton’s speech) were male,(9).” Being a
big believer in the fact that gender inequality goes both ways between the two genders,

she brings out these facts that certify her purpose in writing. This use of logos is meant

to bring out the facts of what has happened in the past to persuade them and agree to

her purpose. Later on, in the next paragraph, Watson goes on to convey her purpose

through use of logos when talking about the flaws in treatment of men. After inviting

the men to also take a stand in the struggle of gender inequality, Watson begins to list

out fact on how men have also been mistreated. She lists out the fact that men have

been suffering from mental illnesses but are stereotyped as men to be able to fight it

off without seeking help. She also goes on to justify “...suicide is the biggest killer to

men between (the age) 20-49,(10).” These facts used to confirm her purpose in her

speech are used to convince the audience that this is a true struggle. Having direct

evidence justifies the topic and makes it seem more believable. Watson’s use of logos

conveys her purpose in her argument when trying to persuade others to believe her

claim.