Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Kiara Starks
Rhetorical and Composition 1301
October 4, 2017
Introduction
David Maraniss uses rhetorical appeals, logos, pathos, and ethos to support his claims
about the colonias not having running water and how the government gives zero funding to them
David Maraniss, the author of the article, argues about how the colonias, the area on the
border of El Paso, has no running water; he even mentions how the government is not helping
with funding of any kind until 1983. The gives an insight about the people who live on the edge
of El Paso and how they do not have any running water and how the government is not helping
them get clean water. The water in the area is highly contaminated which causes the people to
get diseases and yellow stained teeth. Due to not getting any support from the government, the
years before 1983, people would use the contaminated water to drink and bathe in, even though
they end up with rashes and other problems from the water; the water was brown and did not
become clear.
Discussion
The author used logically sources by conducting interviews and using statistics. Logos
tells if the author gave a logical argument about their claim. One way the author showed logos,
was by using the interviews of the people in the colonias. Maraniss talked with a resident named
Willie Madrid, who gave insight on how the water was contaminated and gave them bad rashes
when they used it (Maraniss 1987, para. 9). This gave the readers understanding that the author
knew what he was talking about, due to the interviews from the people in the colonias. Another
way he showed the use of logos, was by putting statistics in his article. In paragraphs, 23 through
25, gives the percentage of the children with medical issues, the percentage of what the
contaminated water contained, and the percentage of residents who store their water in drums.
1
The telling of percentages gives the audience a logical insight on how bad the problems are with
Maraniss proves ethos by using the interviews from the health department in this article.
Ethos tells the audience how credible the author's argument is. From the start of the article,
Maraniss used a saying from Dr. Herbert Ortega, a regional director of the UN-affiliated Pan
American Health Department. What were talking about is a Third World within our border. It
is a very serious problem that can no longer be ignored, locally or nationally (Maraniss 1987,
para. 7). Even paragraphs 13 and 23, continue to show his credibility by adding a saying from
the regions health department and the percentage of children infected from no running water,
conducted by the public health nurse. This shows the audience that the author has credible proof
Pathos was the main rhetorical appeal shown throughout the article. Pathos is the
emotional response that the author tries to ignite from the audience. Maraniss shows pathos by
talking about the deteriorating health of the children. For example, paragraph 23 talked about 85
percent of children suffer from medical issues while paragraph 10 says how half of 1,200
students live without water. This makes the audience who read this sad about the children who
are suffering without water. Another way Maraniss uses water by using a saying from the health
department that really gets the audience thinking about their life compared to the colonias. Can
you imagine, for a minute, what it is like to wake up every day and not have running water, to
wash, to drink? (Maraniss 1987, para. 7) Lastly, he does talk about the government not helping
until 1983, which can ignite anger among the reader. Paragraph 31 talks about the 10-year
growth of the colonias population and how in 1979, El Paso utility stopped the water connections
in the colonias. Then paragraph 36, tells how in 1983, William P. Hobby Jr, the lieutenant
2
governor of Texas and first politician out of El Paso, helped contribute to giving the colonias
water.
the audience. The way he talks about the history of the colonias that are in different areas of El
Paso and mentioning an organization called EPISO, the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring
Organization, shows that this is towards the community in El Paso. There was a usage of
academic words, so this was probably towards the adults of the community. Also, the talk of
politics towards the end of the remaining paragraphs is most likely focusing on the adults of the
El Paso community who are invested in politics. The people who read the article can have
awareness about the colonias that are in their area and have a political stance on how they can
Conclusion
The authors wording and tone fit into the rhetorical appeals, making the article a persuasive
argument. Maraniss used logically sources by conducting interviews to get the audience to see
what is going on in the colonias as they do not have any running water and what the people do or
feel about this. Not only did he prove logos in that way, but also proved it be using statistics.
Ethos may not have seemed big in the article, but the usage of health departments and high
political people proved the credibility in this article. Lastly, pathos was a major key point in the
article. The author used the mentioning of childrens health, due to contaminated water, to have
an advantage point on swaying people to his side of the argument. Even the mentions of politics
have a major effect when it comes to pathos, due to it creating certain emotions about the
problem mentioned. Maraniss used rhetorical appeals to talk about his claim about the problem
3
of no running water and the involvement of the government by persuading the audience to sway
4
References
David Maraniss. El Pasos Perimeter of Poverty. The Washington Post (August 17, 1987).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/08/17/el-pasos-perimeter-of-
poverty/f1b6a57c-5f5f-4ac0-bf2b-a01065dcfc41/?utm_term=.7c3f8a4840e1