Effective Use of Pathos and Connotative Language

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Effective Use of Pathos and Connotative Language

The Hawaiian culture is known throughout the western world for their extravagant luaus, beautiful islands, and a language that comes nowhere near being pronounceable to anyone but a Hawaiian. Whenever someone wants to “get away” their first thought is to sit on the beach in Hawai’i with a Mai tai in their hand and watch the sun go down. Haunani-Kay Trask is a native Hawaiian educated on the mainland because it was believed to provide a better education. She questioned the stories of her heritage she heard as a child when she began learning of her ancestors in books at school. Confused by which story was correct, she returned to Hawai’i and discovered that the books of the mainland schools had been all wrong and her heritage was correctly told through the language and teachings of her own people. With her use of pathos and connotative language, Trask does a fine job of defending her argument that the western world destroyed her vibrant Hawaiian culture.

In the beginning of her paper, Trask wastes no time in bringing the reader into her essay.

“E noi’I wale mai no ka haole, a,

‘a’ ole e pau na hana a Hawai’i ‘imi loa.”

“Let the white man freely research us in detail, but the doings of deep delving Hawai’i will not be exhausted.” (Trask, 175) Kepeino said this, a nineteenth century Hawaiian historian, in response to the white mans involvement to Hawaiian history. Using an expert’s opinion as support she backs her argument up without hesitation. The quote states that if the white man deems it necessary to unveil the doings of Hawaiians, let them come; they will not find what they are looking for. The connotative language used sounds much like an invitation to be sought out. She gets under the readers skin, making it hard for them not to support her side of the argument.

Trask uses pathos as her main tactic to support her argument. She gets close to the audiences’ hearts to gain sympathies from them. She introduces Hawaiian words such as “‘Ohana” (family), a personal subject to most people, to make them feel more comfortable in the setting of the essay. If one feels they are apart of something, they are more likely to take up with you and fight for what you believe in.

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