Hamlet Rhetorical Devices

The Key to a Happy Life
William Powers is a New York Times bestselling author of the novel Hamlets Blackberry; a book that thoroughly expounds on the need for society to detach from technology. The inspiration for his novel blossomed during Powers’s research at Harvard University and his passion for the subject only grew from there. He developed into an esteemed author and won the Arthur Rowse Award for media and criticism twice. Powers’s passion for digital balance is very apparent in his life and in his writing. In Hamlets Blackberry he successfully uses many persuasion techniques to help establish and support his argument. In chapter thirteen, Powers utilizes many rhetorical modes such as narrative, Ethos, and Pathos to help support his

In Chapter thirteen Powers tells a story about his experience detaching his family and him from technology on the weekends. He noticed how technology did not bring his family together like it advertised, but actually drew them apart. So he devised plan, every weekend he would unplug the modem and they would be without internet from Friday night until Monday morning, they called it an “internet Sabbath” (Powers 227). In the short amount of time being disconnected from the outside world it forced his family and him to come together, interact, and make memories. The enforced separation gave the family the ability to “be in one place, doing one particular thing, and enjoy it” (Powers 228). This ritual helped set up an equilibrium of community time and family time, which relates back to the central theme: balance equals happiness. By sharing his first time experience finding balance with technology Powers communicates directly to the reader. He no longer has the responsibilities of being connected to the outside world, he could just relax and enjoy his time bonding with his family. Powers uses narrative to appeal to the reader’s love for their family. The readers can relate to the “need” to make life better for themselves and the ones around them. In Powers story he makes the lives around him better with one small adjustment: Balance. This one

His narrative about the “internet Sabbath” (Powers 227) did more than just tell a story, it gave him credibility, the very definition of the rhetorical appeal, ethos. The more the readers see Powers contribution to his argument, the more credibility he gains and the more they trust his viewpoints. Powers put a lot of time and research into this novel, he used his credibility as an author and incorporated many other famous accredited people to help support his argument. On page 224 of chapter thirteen Powers quotes Henry Thoreau “The man who goes desperately back to the post office over and over hasn’t heard from himself in a long while.” Powers then relates Thoreau’s idea back to his own idea: the more family members log onto technology over and over the more the family grows apart. He uses the logic of a very well-known respected author to help establish a better authenticity of himself and his purpose. It makes it seem like Thoreau agrees that balance is one of the most important aspects in life, which makes Powers argument more respectable. Powers effectively uses many respected sources throughout his novel, just in chapter thirteen he uses Thoreau, Christopher Alexander, Frank Lloyd Wright, Donald Winnicott, and more. With each of these sources his theme builds his support and his credibility. All in all, Powers uses ethos as a strong effective persuasion