english hw

Running head: REFLECTIVE RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 1

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PRESUADE MY FRIEND TO QUITE SMOKING

I was trying to persuade my friend on behalf of his girlfriend to stop smoking. My friend had been smoking for eight years and, thus, had become an addict. The issue had been bothering her and the fact that she could not directly convince him to stop smoking, so she asked me to help. I was trying to persuade him to try and slow down on smoking and, if possible, quit for good. I wanted to make him feel that the habit of smoking would tear his relationship apart and that he might end up losing the lady and losing focus in school. Therefore, following the request from the girlfriend, the main goal was to give her satisfaction and manage to persuade him to change his perception.

My audience name was Hang, and happens to be a freshman in the university. We have known each other for long, and he is currently my best friend. There are certain aspects and traits in him that helped in shaping the ability of persuading him. First, he has been smoking for eight years, which is long enough to have an addiction and this is a bad thing. In addition, I had knowledge on his weakness which was on the love for the lady. Having dated for more than three years, I knew he was capable of making the sacrifice. Further, as my best friend, I knew how to convince him on matters of personal interest. Apart from the smoking habit, Hang is a polite boy and mostly listens in cases of advice. In addition, he is good in communication and thus I was sure to succeed in having a serious conversation with him. Hang is also good when it comes to answering question and thus, being good in asking question, I was sure to ask leading questions until I made him realize why he needed to quit smoking.

The kind of pathos used was mainly on the idea of health as well as the relationship at stake. Personally, I have been trying to quit smoking for health reasons. I used the emotional aspects associated with the negative effects on the health to convince him to stop smoking. I highlighted some of the obvious and common known effects to get him excited about his health. After that I used the girlfriend to show him that it was not only his health that was at stake. I pointed out that if he did not quit smoking, there was a higher likelihood that he would lose her. I also pointed out that the lady was more concerned on the health effects than the smoking being a habit. Therefore, I stated that if she continued feeling that she would lose him someday because of the smoking, it would be better to walk away and this really worked.

I further made use of logos to persuade him through pointing out some logical facts about smoking, particularly the effects of smoking to all smokers. I pointed out that smoking would harm almost every organ of the body and that some of these harms are immediate. When one is smoking, the toxin from the cigarette, the smoke enters the blood. This then makes the blood thicker and thus increasing the chances for the clot formation. It also increases the blood pressure as well as the heart rate and this makes the heart work harder than normal. Further, another effect that I outlined to him was on the individual’s brain. I pointed out that as a smoker; there is a higher likelihood of getting a stroke than a person who does not smoke as smoking increases this chance by 50%. The other obvious effect outlined was on the effects of smoking on the lungs. Smoking leads to coughs, colds and even asthma and it could also cause serious diseases like lung cancer and even pneumonia. With the use of simple logics, I realized that my friend really showed some concern as I made the claims sound very dangerous to an individual’s health. At the end of stating the effects, I also told him that I had been working on my case to stop smoking for the same reasons.

I also made use of ethos in trying to persuade him mainly on the basis of what he would achieve with new habits. I pointed out that being in the university and undertaking a bachelor’s degree, a lot of attention should be transferred to school. He was smart since high school and thus I pointed out that he would still maintain the same progress if he minimized smoking. I made sure that it was the right time to talk to him. After going for mahjong, we usually go and cool off somewhere and take coffee. That day we settled for a usual coffee house after play mahjong. I made sure that I secured a private corner where we would not get company that would interrupt us. To try and get his attention, I offered to buy the coffee that day and some snacks and this got him a little excited. Everything worked pretty well and at the end of the conversation, he remained silent for long, which was an indication that he would consider what I said.

What I would do differently today would be emphasize establishing credibility. This would particularly make the audience more willing to trust me before sharing my ideas. Another thing that I would choose to do different would be to try and adopt more persuasive skills. This could be through using code words which should make my audience like me and trust me by using their language. This would include making use of words such as ‘I believe’ or ‘I think’ to make him feel that I have his best interest at heart. I would do this differently basically because first, it is a better way of succeeding in a persuasion. Particularly because I was trying to persuade my best friend, establishing credibility and trust would be the best thing to maintain our relationship.