Words And Behavior Rhetorical Analysis

1225 Words3 Pages

Lauren Rodriguez
Mr. Garcia
ENC 1101
March 11th, 2015
Words of War
How are people supposed to take pride in their country when the words spoken to them contain deceit and ulterior motives for war? Peoples’ own languages are betraying them when they are fueled with the intent of going to war with other countries. In “Words and Behavior”, English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley describes the relationship between war and the human language. His essay claims that words are manipulated to encourage going to war, yet he does not agree with the words of deception that are used to give grounds for going to war. He expresses this through the repetition of “force”, his formal writing style, and appeal to Pathos.
Language drives the feelings and desires of human beings, providing motives for their actions. It is an intelligence which sets humans apart from animals, allowing them to be more “civilized.” In his essay, Huxley explains how …show more content…

Throughout the essay, the use of more formal diction gives his thesis a stronger impact of accuracy than more casual wording would. He uses words such as “iniquity”, “euphemisms”, and “propound”, whose meaning readers of a high school level, or maybe even the average reader, may not recognize, implying that Huxley’s audience is to be of a higher education or intelligence. A varied sentence length also helps to keep the essay from becoming monotonous and boring. There is a sense of willfulness that comes from the wording he uses, wanting for people to understand the deception that words are having on their lives and what atrocious wars they are allowing themselves to be convinced to accept. The formality of Huxley’s writing style allows him to appeal to ethos by conveying his knowledge of the affects of the propaganda of war the common people of society are subjected

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