Running Head: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

Rhetorical Analysis of U.S. Support for Euthanasia Hinges on How Its Described
Sebastian Flores
University of Texas at El Paso

Rhetorical Analysis of U.S. Support for Euthanasia Hinges on How Its Described

Euthanasia is a controversial issue that sometimes seems unattended and lacks interest
from the public eye. This article portrays the United States population support on euthanasia
since 1997 and how it has declined. Throughout the article Lydia Saad uses tables and graphs to
support her research. This article main purpose is to show that wording in describing assisted
suicide matters. With the same sample population, two groups were asked about their support in
assisted suicide, one of them was asked about their support in regards to End the patients life
by some painless means, (Saad, 2013) that wording got a 70 % support from the sample
population, while using the words Assist the patient to commit suicide, (Saad 2013) only had a
51% support from the sample population. So how is this article credible, how is it factual, and
ethical for people to believe, to be interested, or to have an emotional reaction to?
Logos is the logical appeal an article or a visual has on an audience. So when it comes to
how an audience can find this article factual? We come across Saads extensive graphs and
tables, showing the support depending on the wording of the question, the support of assisted
suicide in general, a graph for the Democratic and Republican support throughout the years for
assisted suicide, and a graph showing the support of doctors depending on the wording of the
question. All these visuals appeals to logos, showing a steady decline in support for assisted
suicide. Another piece of important logos, is when Saad refers to assisted suicides popularity
and support peaking in 2001, regarding all the news surrounding Jack Kevorkian at the time,
(Saad, 2013) It is possible that the declinereflects reduced coverage about the issue of Jack
Kevorkian, the man synonymous with the practice. This particular excerpt from the article,

touches back on the year 2001 where Jack Kevorkian was the center of attention in a lot of the
media, the mentioning of this character and of the support peaking in 2001, and appeals to logos.
When reading this article, regarding this issue about assisted suicide, ethos has much to
do with this controversial subject. This article is full with ethos, the whole subject is an ethical
dilemma. Right off the bat when Saad is writing about ending the patients life by some painless
means, (Saad, 2013) that appeals to ethics, first off if youre against the issue it appeals to your
ethos to be completely against ending a persons life, but that same quote appeals to somebody
that supports the issue when it says to end somebodys life by painless means. This article talks
about the wording of the question about supporting assisted suicide, directly impacts the support
behind it. This could appeal to ethos in making it seem like if theyre just using a euphemism to
cover up the actual word and avoiding the harsh truth and that affects the outcome of the poll,
which is immoral. Lastly, the credibility in this article is that the polls are from Gallup a
famous company that has been around since 1935 doing public surveys.
Lastly pathos, appealing to our emotions. How does this article make you feel, maybe
some empathy, sadness, anger, etc? Well same example as ethos, ending someones life
appeals to emotion, it might seem a bit harsh and cold to just talk about ending someones life so
freely. Besides that the whole appeal to ethos in this article is general throughout the article, even
though it talks about constant facts and graphs, this particular issue can be emotional all around
for anyone who might have encountered a hardship with somebody they knew that was
terminally ill. Just with the simple word euthanasia, it feels a little melancholic, we directly relate
that word to putting down our pets, so just imagine thinking about putting down a family
member.

Lydia Saad uses mainly logos to convey her message across, whether it be a graph or the
mentioning of Jack Kevorkian, Saads main rhetorical tool is logos. Which leaves the article dry
and plain, and it shouldnt because the subject matter is in fact a very ethical and emotional
subject. Throughout the article we can see various graphs, but not once do we see a thorough
explanation as to what euthanasia is, if a person who is not knowledgeable in the issue reads this
paper, he/she might be completely lost as to what Saad is talking about. Besides Saads lack of an
explanation, you can find her being a bit redundant and with a lack of vocabulary throughout the
article.
Survey finds 70% of Americans in favor of allowing doctors to hasten a terminally ill
patient's death when the matter is described as allowing doctors to "end the patient's life by some
painless means." At the same time, far fewer -- 51% -- support it when the process is described
as doctors helping a patient "commit suicide"(Saad 2013). This is practically the whole
introduction paragraph, from what can be seen, Saad lacks a strong thesis statement showing the
reader what they are about to read. This introduction paragraph talks about one specific survey,
while the whole article talks about different surveys, and different sample groups throughout the
years.
In conclusion we can see how Saad conveys her point through logos, and she does well
throughout her article. But she lacks more detailed parts for the other rhetorical elements. An
article to fully accomplish its potential of what the author is trying to convey, it needs certain
degree of each rhetorical element, which Saad doesnt do, she lacks balance in her article.