Cortez 1

Edgar Cortez

Professor Beadle

English 115

September 23rd, ​2019 How Mindset Works With Suffering

A real life is being handled while living in poverty in which we should choose to not

underestimate in many people’s actions in life, instead we should help them reach them towards a

better situation in the world to live in. When reading one of the three articles the main one that

stood out to me was by Graham Hill which was an article titled “Living with Less. A Lot Less.”

The article I provided represents a brief example ​of​ how and what Pathos is based on the actual

story that is being described which can make you feel many emotions and change one person’s

mindset quickly. It shows how the Rhetoric is persuading the audience in a way that you are

responsible for actions and could always pick it up and improve the way of life. In the article by

David Brooks “What Suffering Does” gives an example of what Logos is. It gives you an aspect of

life where if you suffer it can give you an accurate sense of what you​r​ limitations are and what you

can control and not control. It can affect life in a good way or ​a​ bad way after realizing what you’ve

been suffering or encountering in life that is not the best for you as a person. Many people have

reformed and became their better self afterward when they have realized what it means to live in

life. Meanwhile with the Article by Sonja Lyubomirsky, “How Happy Are You and Why?”

represents the connection towards​ Graham Hills​’​ article in which it shows that ​there is ​confidence

shown and what it can do to help you. ​This said, Hill’s article is the most effective since he uses
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pathos and ethos strategy to argue the fact of how living with less can lead to happiness and what

kinds of different things it can give.

In the article “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” by Graham Hill can support a lot of things in

life with the rhetorical strategy of Pathos. Choosing a different path of life can be much more ​then

life​-​changing. In which it can make one’s life much easier and provide a better way to manage

how you are as a person. The quote “My space is well-built, affordable and as functional as living

spaces twice the size. As the guy who started TreeHugger.com, I sleep better knowing I’m not

using more resources ​then ​I need. I have less --- and enjoy more. My space is small. My life is

big.” (Graham Hill 312) In Hill’s perspective he was always experiencing hard times. The sentence

he had described exemplifies that anybody can really change and turn their own lives around to

where they can feel comfortable with. Hill had a better mindset at the time​ then​ took his time and

effort to know what he needed in life and whatnot. To support this Hill presented “I have come a

long way from the life I had in the late ‘90s, when, flush with cash from an Internet startup sale, I

had a giant house crammed with stuff---electronics and cars and appliances and gadgets.” (Hill

311) This critically shows how life was back in the days when he did not have everything he

needed in life to be completely satisfied. Along with the Pathos, it does tie into the emotions and

provides the best argument since it shows a topic that is strong and mind changing. ​Emotions, lets

you acknowledge and think about it which then lets people either ruin their own life slowly or fix it

to where they want it in bits of pieces.​ It takes time and effort but you always have to have room

for patience, and I feel like that is the key ​to​ this.

Presenting the second reading I have read can show rhetorical strategies that may “How

Happy Are You and Why?” by Sonja Lyubomirsky can tie into anyone’s life in a heartbeat. This
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can relate to anyone in any way and change their viewing perspective​, ​and make a better impact on

themself. Mainly to discuss the rhetorical strategies, it does tie into Pathos but this is where it can

talk about feelings/emotions a person can have in an everyday life. The quote in the article

represented by Sonja Lyubomirsky “Today randy is one of those happy people who make everyone

around them smile and laugh. He picked himself up after his divorce, moved to another city, found

work as a safety engineer, and eventually remarried.” (Sonja Lyubomirsky, 181) The description of

this can give you an insight ​into​ the strategy of Logos. But it can fail to present a good argument of

pathos than Graham Hill. It can mess with many emotions of how you feel at the current state of

life when you compare it to this person. When you are being targeted ​at​ what kind of person you are

and what you do. Everyone has felt this experience and can have their feelings be turned down

because of it. It talks about a lot of empathy but is completely different ​from ​what Graham Hill’s

article is like and by far would consider this reading my second option that shows the best

argument.

​Out of the three articles I ​would be presented by David Brooks, “What Suffering Does”.

All articles give a topic that is based upon in the rhetorical strategies and can make you think of the

choices of what to pick and can stand out to you the most. This article gives a sense of what Logos

is like to people. It talks about how one’s mind works in a sense in real life where you are held. It

provides historical information that ties into situations like Lincoln who sacrificed himself for the

Union to make it better for others. Which ​then​ you may have to experience the suffering and than it

can drag you deeper into yourself. As the quote from David Brooks’ article “First, suffering drags

you deeper into yourself. The theologian “Paul Tillich” wrote that people who endure suffering are

taken beneath the routines of life and find they are not who they believe themselves to be.” (David
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Brooks 285) The quote ​describes​ of how messages in readings can affect you in a way where you

are as a person. It provides the reader ​with​ what you should think about in a way where it can help

you in life and be your better self than the person is currently. It can tie int Graham Hill because it

shows that he had gone through such hard times and made an impact on himself. There are reasons

for what you may experience and to what this may cause the person to feel. It gives us a message of

what anything like suffering can do and change who you are. Like “ Recovering from suffering is

not like recovering from a disease. Many people don’t come out healed; they come out different.”

This is represents what it can do to people’s lives when they come to a part where they are tested

their strength in which they can develop a better mindset and know what to when another situation

like this comes again.

Graham Hill’s article is the most effective and entertaining ​for​ the audience. He uses pathos

and ethos to argue how living with less can lead to happiness and what you can do with it. It gives

you an understanding of how you can turn a person’s life around if you look at it the correct way

and think about how you would want to move forward with yourself. It’s a guide to realize if the

real Pathos strategy is being shown in the world itself. Such as the beginning of the essay we should

help others and never underestimate anyone for any reason for who they are. Everyone starts

somewhere in life and they have to bring themselves to a point where they feel satisfied, meaning

they have to work for it. Every article shows a different type of emotion and perspective of what

people go through, it’s important to always be the better self and work towards that goal where you

can develop the best mindset going through the suffering and experiences that life may bring

towards you. As for suffering, you can not achieve that certain type of happiness or that person you

are meant to be if you never have experienced the dreadful suffering. It will then open your eyes
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and make the path easier to find. If the steps like suffering, rhetorical strategies, and thoughts were

never to exist, life wouldn’t be easy because you would not have the time to learn who you are as a

person and what you would like to do in the world itself. Which is why I picked the best article out

of all from Graham Hill’s “Living with Less. A Lot Less.” It is important to study happiness since it

can be a positive impact upon yourself and others who you may come across.
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Works Cited

Brooks, David. “What Suffering Does.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt and Dawn

Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s 2016, pp 284 - 287.

Hill, Graham. “Living with Less, A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew Parfitt and

Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s 2016, pp. 308 - 313.

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness, edited by Matthew

Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, Bedford St. Martin’s, 2016, pp 179 - 197.