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The Rhetorical Analysis Of Eliza Stacey's Father In Law

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Eliza Stacey attempts to persuade her father-in-law to help her family once again. Her husband, George, has been arrested for an unpaid debt. Stacey’s family does not have enough money to pay this debt off. To make the situation even more complicated, Stacey has had to ask her father-in-law for help in the past. However, the author is able to make a compelling case. In order to accomplish this, she uses many rhetorical strategies such as the three appeals and repetition. Stacey uses pathos as her main appeal. This rhetorical appeal is highly effective when appealing to family, as it provokes sympathy and empathy from loved ones. The author opens the letter with “My dear father-in-law.” Then throughout the story she gradually seems to become more affectionate towards him and ends the letter calling him her “dear Father” and signing the letter off with “your deeply afflicted daughter.” This is a subtle attempt that Stacy uses to persuade her father-in-law by making him see her as his blood relative. In the letter, Stacey illustrates how inopportune of a time that George, her husband, was taken …show more content…

Instead of skirting around the issue, she describes the situation in full detail. The author is not afraid of the truth which will convince the father-in-law that they are not hiding any facts of the case. Stacey begins the letter by describing the conflicting sides to their story. She explains her husband’s debt, but then goes on to explain how they do not feel as though they should owe it. The man they owe had borrowed their horse and rode it to its death. This same man then disappeared without paying them for the borrowment the horse or compensation for its death. This led to the author’s family believing that their debt had been paid off. Stacey uses this to appeal to her father-in-law that their case is unjust and that they are not guilty. This is an attempt to establish trust with the

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