Rhetorical Analysis of Jack Curry's "Put is in Writing"
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Transcript of Rhetorical Analysis of Jack Curry's "Put is in Writing"
Zelgai Saleh09/25/13Period 3
My laptop killed my handwriting. It took it and destroyed it to the point that’s it’s
probably worse than my handwriting when I was 10. But is that necessarily a bad thing? In the
age of digital proliferation, where almost everything is typed up, do we have to have proper
handwriting? Jack Curry in his essay “Put it in Writing” argues, yes we do. He appeals to both
Logos and Pathos in an attempted to persuade the reader that handwriting is important, but his
lack of a clear appeal to Ethos weakens his arguments considerably.
His appeals to logic (Logos) are very short, maybe a little too short. His first logical
argument for the value of handwriting is essays on standardized tests: “75 percent of students
taking the SAT submit essays writing in printed letter”. This appeal is directed and probably
more effects any students reading Curry’s essay. When what is considered one of the biggest
tests of your life requires a handwritten section it may be nice to have nice or at least legible
handwriting. The next logical argument is his example of “Fahrney’s fine pen shop” that offers a
“cursive clinic – for adults”. This argument while at the surface seems good, is truly ineffective.
The argument is trying to prove that handwriting is important by providing one anecdotal piece
of evidence without further elaborating on it at all. He in no way shows how that proves his
point.
Curry’s appeals to emotion (Pathos) are much more numerous and are the main focus of
his essay. The main two arguments he makes are about his father and about individuality. His
first appeal to emotion is the sort of story he tells throughout his essay about his father. He
invokes emotions in the reader by showing the connection he can maintain with his father
through handwriting. He says “each sentence I put to paper traces its bloodline to Joe Curry”.
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Finally the imagery and the emotional elements of the last paragraph of the essay really tie up the
story about his father and have a large emotional impact on the reader.
The second appeal to emotion is his argument about individuality, which kind of is made
implicitly through his essay but is made out right when he says: “it’s my scrawl. The LOLs and
BTWs of my text messages look exactly like everyone else’s.” This argument may resonate well
with the reader because most people want to be individuals and unique. By saying that
handwriting is a form of expressing oneself uniquely and that typing take that away he is
appealing to the reader’s emotional desire to be unique. I think this argument is very effective in
that it appeals to a much broader number of people than many of his previous ones.
The one thing missing from his essay is an ethical appeal or credibility building (Ethos).
He fails to prove to the reader that he is a credible source and fails to say why we should actually
buy his arguments. Without this his essay loses a lot of its persuasiveness. The reader needs
some kind of reason to believe what he is saying, especially since his essay is lacking in any real,
substantial evidence. Without it, it’s left up to the reader to decide whether or not he will buy
Curry’s arguments.
All in all. I think the essay fails to properly convince the reader that handwriting is
valuable. Most of his essay is spent on making emotional appeals and telling stories, which does
very little to actually further his arguments. I think while the reader might be moved by these
emotional appeals and might start to be convinced, without any real logic and evidence the
reader will never be fully convinced of the value of handwriting. The logical parts of his
arguments are short, weak and lacking in evidence and analysis and the essay is missing ethos all
together. The Pathos of the paper is just not enough to convince the reader and would do better if
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supplemented by other elements. So, should my laptop be condemned for killing my
handwriting? Maybe not.
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