Maureen Dowd has established herself as one of the nation’s leading editorialists and commentators, and it is clear that she is an expert at applying the classic rhetorical strategies of ethos, pathos, and logos in her writing. Maureen Dowd’s essay “Our Own Warrior Princess” tells the story of her niece Jennifer’s experience as an organ donor. This text does more than just provide a narrative, though: the event gives Dowd the opportunity to consider her own feelings about organ donation, and after she’s done so, she encourages her readers to share her new point of view in favor of the commitment to become a donor. Dowd does so not simply by sharing an emotional story (although she does not overlook that important component of her text); the author also employs other formal tools of rhetoric to gain her readers’ acceptance. The story Maureen Dowd relates is extremely well-crafted, and her use of ethos, pathos, and logos are so seamlessly incorporated in the text that a reader may not immediately recognize them. An examination of the text reveals that each of these three strategies contributes to a strong and extremely persuasive essay in which Dowd succeeds in convincing her readers to agree with her.
Ethos, or credibility, is a key component of the rhetoric of persuasion. An author establishes credibility with the reader by earning his trust, and Maureen Dowd does this by establishing that she is both “an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect” (“General Summary”). Dowd establishes herself as an authority, both by telling Jennifer’s specific story, which she clearly is well aware of, but also by citing information about organ donation from reliable outside sources. We learn that a green ribbon is the symbol of organ donation. Dowd also gives us facts and statistics about the dire need for more people to become donors, and she uses National Public Radio and the New York Organ Donor Network as the sources of her information (Dowd 234). She has done her homework, and she makes that clear to the reader by revealing her sources. In a more subtle way, there is another use of ethos in the presentation of this persuasive essay: the textbook creators provide another layer of credibility for Dowd in the introductory blurb they include with the essay. From that short blurb, the reader learns that Dowd has not only been writing editorials and commentaries for over two decades, but she has received several high honors within her field of work, including a Pulitzer Prize (Dowd 233). This expands the reader’s regard for Maureen Dowd’s credibility: not only does she know about organ donation, but she’s a well-respected commentator as well. Finally, when considering ethos, the role of likability and personal respect shouldn’t be overlooked, and Dowd also has these attributes: she tells us this story about her own niece, who donated part of her liver to Dowd’s own brother. In other words, this is personal for her. Further, she’s amazed at Jennifer’s bravery, not just through the pain and stress of the procedure, but also because of the scar the younger woman will always have while she lives “in an airbrush culture” (Dowd 233). Dowd offers a portrait of not just a brave, “Xena Warrior Princess” niece, but also of a niece whom she worries about, which offers a point of connection for readers: most people worry about their family members, and so does the famous editorialist Maureen Dowd. She “gets it.”
“Language choice affects the audience's emotional response” to a persuasive text (“General Summary”), and Dowd certainly uses language wisely in this essay. Pathos, or the appeal to emotions, underlies many of her choices of words and phrases. For instance, Dowd refers to Jennifer’s scar as “beautiful,” but then goes on to describe it as “A huge stapled gash. . . . A red badge of courage” (Dowd 233). These seem contradictory, as the latter words sound anything but “beautiful,” but as the essay progresses, it becomes clear that Dowd admires not the physical scar (and sacrifice) of her niece, but rather Jennifer’s bravery and love for her uncle. The language describing Jennifer’s endurance of the event—her not wanting to act like “a wimp,” her “Reaganesque” stoicism—and her life before and after the surgery as “a fitness nut . . . . single, out in the cruel dating world” (Dowd 233) all appeal to the reader’s emotion. The reader has “been there, done that,” and can relate to the challenges Jennifer faced and will face because of her decision to be a donor. And Dowd’s listing of Jennifer’s attributes in the first paragraph on page 234 also appeal to the emotions: who wouldn’t want to be like that young woman? Finally, when Dowd’s talk about the whole situation turns to herself, she again uses language that readers can identify with: she is “one of the scaredy-cats” who has “nutty fears” of her eyes being “plucked out” or her kidney “grabbed” (Dowd 234) before she’s really dead—and by the language she chooses, the implication is that it’s silly for her (and for her reader) to feel that way.
Finally, even though this is a very personal story that Maureen Dowd tells, she doesn’t rely solely on either the reader’s acceptance of her as an authority figure or on his emotional acceptance of the appeal. The writer is sure to complement her rhetorical uses of ethos and pathos with a healthy dose of logos as well. That is, Dowd requires the reader to not just feel respectful toward her, or only to feel awed and inspired by Jennifer’s sacrifice and bravery, but the author also requires her reader to think. Without that appeal to logos—the use of the rational mind—this essay would be far easier to dismiss. If there were not facts and a fact-based argument presented, a reader could legitimately create arguments against accepting Dowd’s conclusion that becoming an organ donor is a good and desirable course of action. However, it is difficult to discount Jennifer’s appeal, “to encourage others to have the guts to donate organs” (Dowd 234), not just because Maureen Dowd says this is a good thing, or because Jennifer was brave enough to do it. By providing factual information (“More than 80,000 Americans are on waiting lists. . . . [and] thousands die on those lists every year.” “Across the U.S., 17 men, women and children . . . die every day for lack of a donated organ”) that is also credible (ethos) and emotional (pathos), these statistics provide a logical, more concrete basis to substantiate Maureen Dowd’s point.
Effective persuasion relies on the incorporation of strong, clear, and acceptable rhetorical strategies in order to convince the reader to agree with the author’s position. In her essay about her niece Jennifer’s donation of a part of her liver so that Michael could survive and live a healthy life, editorialist and commentator Maureen Dowd exhibits all three types of rhetoric in subtle yet powerful ways. Dowd is a respectable, likeable, and credible authority figure, both because of her specific involvement and knowledge of the topic in this essay, but also because of her proven record of journalistic excellence over many years. The bits of information that Dowd incorporates in the essay, both about her niece Jennifer’s experience surrounding the donation and also more broadly as a young single American woman in the 21st century, and also about Dowd’s own feelings and misgivings, along with the heartbreaking statistics she chooses to share, all appeal to the reader’s emotions. And finally, those same statistics are true, factual information, and they require the reader to seriously consider how widespread the need for organ donors is. By skillfully employing ethos, pathos, and logos in this essay, Maureen Dowd offers a compelling case for readers to share her opinion.
Works Cited
Dowd, Maureen. “Our Own Warrior Princess.” The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College,
Writing for Life. 3d ed. Eds. Duane Roen, Gregory Glau, and Barry Maid. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2013. 233-234.
“A General Summary of Aristotle's Appeals . . .” Developing Workplace-Ready Classrooms: A
Professional Development Training Initiative for Durham Technical Community College.
Durham Technical Community College. http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html 15 June 2014.
