Eddie (Anh Dang)

ENG 101

Feb 12, 2019

A Summary of “Who Would Peter be Today”

The article “Who Would Peter be Today” is written by Ismael Estrada, a producer and

contributor for Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees on CNN. In this article, Estrada illustrates the

early life of a bullied child who ultimately committed suicide and his deep regret for standing by

and doing nothing to stop it. Estrada’s article is summarized below.

Ismael Estrada writes this article based on his own experience. The use of ethos can be

seen at the beginning of the article. The author convinces us that his credibility is high because

he knew Peter, the bullied child, for many years when they were kids. Estrada says that Peter

and he were in many classes and school band together, however, they were not too close.

This article relies heavily on the use of pathos. Throughout the article, we can see

Estrada tries to stir up the reader’s emotion of sympathy and pity. First, he shows us how

isolate Peter was. Peter just didn’t fit it because of his different hobbies and clothes. Second,

according to Estrada’s perspective, the abuse on Peter was nonstop. Calling names, laughing

and teasing were all Peter got every day at school. Thirdly, the author admits that even that he

didn’t directly abuse Peter, he was not innocent either. In the article, we see Estrada repeats

himself many times that he did nothing. Like anyone else, Estrada watched and did nothing.

Finally, the author emphasizes his use of pathos by revealing that Peter took his own life when
he was only 15-years-old. Estrada admits that he, as well as anyone else in school, knew exactly

why Peter ended his life and it was never a question. Even everyone in Peter’s school knew all

of this, no one ever talked about it. Nothing happened to show regret or prevent the same

thing would happen again.

In conclusion, Ismael Estrada shows us his deep regret. All the time, he thought about

Peter and tried to teach his own kids to do what he didn’t: stand up for those who are abused.

We don’t see much logos in the article, however, we all get the message through the emotion

of the author. Peter didn’t have a chance to grow up not only because of bullying but also

ignoring.