"Success and Failure on the G.E.D." | Published 12/31/10 | An Editorial Analysis

        The author of "Success and Failure on the G.E.D." uses rhetorical devices to help the reader understand the argument and to help the argument flow. For example, he uses alliteration in the essay such as when he says, "innovative instructional" and "programs that prepare people", which helps the passages sound smoother, and makes the readers more receptive to what the author has to say. The author also does a really good job of taking advantage of the natural rhythm of English to get his points across. For example, he ends his sentences with phrases such as, "the way forward", and "their economic future - and the country's". By ending his sentences with something memorable, the readers walk away remembering that the G.E.D. allows people, allows America, to have a brighter future. A diction choice of the author's that really struck me is when he mentions, that "Nearly 40 million Americans are locked into dead-end jobs." I think the author's choice of "locked into" is a good diction choice here because "locked into" has connotations of confinement and being shut off from opportunities, which are situations in which no one wants to find themselves. As a result, through this diction choice, the author manages to evoke both pathos and logos in the same sentence.

           Although the author does a really good job with taking advantage of most of the rhetorical devices, I think he could’ve done more to use a wider variety of rhetorical devices in his essay, such as repetition, the rule of three, or questions.

            In this essay, the narrative persona is very formal and explanatory. The author sticks to the facts, without any embellishments, and uses statistics to describe to us the necessity of having better programs in place to help those adults who are trying to pass the G.E.D. The author creates such a tone when he writes things like, "Nearly 800,000 people take the exam each year, and about 500,000 pass" and "The test is free in some states and costs as much as $400 in others." Such parts help build up the author's voice, which is formal and informative yet impassioned. The author clearly supports one side of the issue and cares deeply for this issue, yet the author is also trying to present us with the facts and let us make our own judgment. This tone makes me like the essay more because in persuasive writing, one needs to convince an audience of something, one needs to be able to show that one cares for the issue and get others to feel the same way (pathos). One also needs to be able to back up one's claims (logos). The author pulled both off very well.

            If this essay were an AP essay, I think the voice would be appropriate because it is formal enough, but it isn't a strict and detached voice: the narrative persona is there, warm and welcoming you to see the issue as the author sees it.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/opinion/01sat2.html?_r=1