Richer And Poorer Accounting For Inequality Rhetorical Analysis

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Rhetorical Analysis of “Richer and Poorer Accounting for Inequality” In the essay “Richer and Poorer Accounting for Inequality”, written by Jill Lepore and published in The New Yorker, March 16, 2015, the author is informing the educated middle class of the extreme inequalities between the rich and the poor in the United States, with a call to action to those educated enough to help. Ms. Lepore the income inequality amongst individuals in the United States then comparing it to other countries, she gives her audience a clear understanding of the significance difference. She explains the harrowing effects inequality has as well as the reasons behind why Americans have for so long, been unable to change it. Effectively persuading her audience …show more content…

She uses information from Robert Putnam's research in the book “Our Kids”. The book helps readers learn from stories instead of numbers by detailing the effects inequality had on his hometown in Port Clinton, Ohio compared to when he grew up in the 1950’s. Describing an old abandoned factory “In Port Clinton, Ohio, a barbed-wire fence surrounds the abandoned Standard Products factory; the E.P.A. has posted signs warning that the site is hazardous. There’s no work there anymore, only poison” (9). The use of pathos is created, illustrating the condition of the abandoned factory and the daunting effect it has on the community it once support. Personal stories about the lives of the less fortunate younger generation and quotes are presented from those interviewed in “Our Kids”, gaining more pathos. One of the personal stories and quotes, came from a young man, named David, who grew up in poverty. When David was eighteen, he got his girlfriend pregnant but his girlfriend left him. Following her leaving him, he wrote this on his Facebook page “I’ll never get ahead,” followed by “I’M FUCKING DONE” (4). This is another way that Ms. Lepore effectively conveys pathos to her educated middle class audience, by the use of personal live stories and

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