Not Punishing Children Rhetorical Analysis

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Through the use of rhetoric, arrangement, and confrontation of a controversial issue, the author attempts to convince parents not to punish a child for bad behavior.
Khazan states that by not punishing children, a parent practices the correct way to parent and attempts to prove that theory by confronting a controversial issue with confidence in order to persuade the reader to believe them. The article that Khazan wrote presents the opinion of not punishing children as a fact. Both she and Alan Kazdin, the man she interviewed, speak with confidence about this controversial subject, possibly with the intent of preventing the reader from thinking enough about the topic to form their own opinions on the theory. The thesis of the article is “Punishment might make you feel better, but it won’t change the kid’s behavior.”(Khazan), proving that they focus on convincing parents of this theory. Painting pictures of firm, factual, better ways to rear children, Khazan convinces casual readers that the opinions stated in the piece are factual. …show more content…

Much of the article consists of the dialogue of Alan Kazdin, a child psychologist who presents the no punishment theory written about in the text. Right away, the article introduces him as the “director of the Yale Parenting Center” (Khazan), therefore establishing himself as a trustworthy source considering the prestige of the position and the university he affiliates himself with. In this way, Khazan uses the appeal to ethos first in the article in order to persuade the readers that the information presented in the following interview comes from truthful and trustworthy sources. Khazan also uses pathos as a rhetorical appeal in

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