Part of my Rhetorical Analysis Paper

Gee, I love when essays get thrown on you the day before they're due. Since I spent a little while writing this essay for my English 115 class I didn't get a chance to blog about something exciting, so I'm just going to post this instead...not that I'm bitter or anything.

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Rhetorical analysis of the Newsweek article: “The Mormon Odyssey”

Although Newsweek author Elise Soukup is writing to a large audience in her most recent article “The Mormon Odyssey,” her article is not directed at every single reader of the magazine. Soukup addresses the topic of the Mormon Church with the premise that her readers are not Church members, do not know much about its history or doctrinal beliefs, and yet still have some interest or curiosity.

Soukup’s appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos play a strong and vital part in convincing her audience that although the Church “remains mysterious to many” and the “central tenets of Mormonism seem confusing” the Church is something that is a “source of continuing personal growth for all who accept its blessings.” Soukup is not trying to convince her audience about the correctness of the Mormon Church’s doctrines or history. She is merely trying to show that regardless of the Church’s history or what it believes, it is a world religion that can no longer be ignored.

Appealing to logos, Soukup begins by explaining why Joseph Smith, the Church’s founder, should naturally have wondered about and questioned his faith.

His grandfather prophesied that a family member would revolutionize the world of religion; his father had a series of prophetic dreams about his family’s salvation; his aunt became a local celebrity by claiming that she had been healed by Jesus himself. And so it was natural that Smith would wonder about his own faith (emphasis added).

Through logos, Soukup explains to the reader that the Mormon Church is a church which deserves respect because it provides for its people through “members [delivering] meals to new mothers, [helping] relocating families find housing, and [packing] and [unpacking] during moves. Logically, the Mormons seem like a caring and kindhearted people, even if their beliefs are disputable.

Soukup appeals to pathos to show the reader that the Mormon Church’s ideologies are not far from what mainstream Americans’ hold as important. “[Joseph] Smith’s times are much like our own” she begins one of her paragraphs. This simple statement immediately draws the reader in, helps them to sympathize with Smith and therefore remain open to the idea that the Mormon Church is a positive influence on society.

The words that Soukup chooses to use also help to appeal to pathos. In a paragraph where Soukup describes the persecution of the Mormons in Nauvoo, she uses words and phrases like “unwelcome”, “driven by mobs”, “extermination”, “fled”, “inflamed”, and “mob stormed the jail.” These words and phrases help the reader to feel empathy for the Mormon’s situation and therefore make them seem more like real human beings.

Lastly, Soukup appeals to ethos in three different ways. First, Soukup uses the fact that she is writing for a nationally-recognized magazine, Newsweek, to justify such statements as, “Smith is arguable the most influential native-born figure in American religious history.” This is a somewhat subjective statement that Soukup poses as a hard fact; the reader is likely to believe it off-hand because it is found in a reputable magazine.

Secondly, Soukup cites prominent political figures such as Massachusetts’ Republican governor, Mitt Romney, and Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid. Although she does not include many quotes from these individuals, the fact that she mentions that these two prominent political figures are Mormons makes the reader think, “if Mormons can be in positions of authority, they must have something of importance to offer.”

Thirdly, Soukup cites prominent figures of the LDS Church itself. By citing members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Prophets, she is able to show that the information is coming from authoritative sources within the Church—people that are undoubtedly likely to know what they are talking about.

Overall, Soukup very effectively addresses her audience—adult, religious non-Mormons, that have heard of the Church before—and communicates her purpose—to show that the Mormon Church, even though it may still hold controversial views, has much to offer society—through strong diction and appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos.