123 School Work

Rhetorical Analysis Gary Sotos the girl on the can of peas

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  Gary Soto's essay, The Girl on the Can of Peas, is a useful piece of literature to identify elements of the rhetorical triangle. The first element, Ethos, refers to the appeals exerted by the speaker or writer. In other words, ethos describes the writer's knowledge or integrity. This element becomes apparent as the author describes the main character in his essay. "I was five and sitting in our dirt yard on Braly Street. My brother Rick was hanging by almighty luck in the almond tree making bomb sounds" (327). The author makes reference to the boys' age to mentally prepare the reader to understand the world as this boy does. The fact that his brother is hanging from a tree making bomb sounds tells us that the brother can't be much older. When he states that he pulled the can with the girl's picture out of the trash, along with other cans to assemble a city to burn, Soto shows the typical nature of a young boy. He supports this with later statements, "But in time I returned outside, worn out from the deep feelings I had shared with her, and played soldiers with Rick" (327)...