example of rough draft of rhetorical analysis

However, regardless of whether it was based on a real incident or not, the point to this is that there are too many school shootings to accurately attribute this ad. Of course, we can make guesses based on what we see in the video: we know that the events take place very close to summer break, and the main shooting occurs in a large room, likely a gym or multi-purpose room. Another issue with claiming that this video is Kairotic is the fact that there was no one shooting in 2016 or before that this message is based on ( Everytown for Gun Safety). One major problem with the way that rhetoric is currently viewed is that any attempt to harness Kairos of is seen as “politicizing” a tragedy, whether it be for a shooting or any other event where people are harmed or even killed. Kairos is a subject that is difficult to discuss for a topic such as school shootings. Sandy Hook Promise is tugging on our heartstrings and saying that we must educate ourselves on the signs of a shooting, or else stories like the one found in “Evan” will be lost to the senseless violence of school shootings.

Much like in our “Back to school” analysis, children are a huge source of pathos in arguments, and setting the story in a junior high school appeals to every person’s experiences. However, this twist, where we suddenly must fear for our main character’s life, is meant to be an appeal to pathos. Much like in the case of real-life shootings, once the lead up to a shooting is examined, the cause becomes increasingly obvious. This shocking turn of events inspires us to go back and look at what could have caused this twist. We get lost in this story, and begin to predict what will happen, up until the very last shot. A very apt commonplace for this short is the idea of the teen “coming of age” experience, and we can see this in the main character’s developing relationship with the responder to their message. This is where the pathos of the piece kicks in. This process, however, can quickly turn sour. The framing of the video being on a happy story, with tragic events unfolding in the background is a perfect way to frame this sort of narrative, as oftentimes in real life, we try to ignore others’ misfortune in favor of their successes. Their mission in this short video was to illustrate to us not only the warning signs of a school shooting, but also to show us how difficult it can be to find these signs if you aren’t on the lookout for them. It is safe to say that the Sandy Hook community, and specifically Sandy Hook Promise, are familiar with the process of a school shooting. They shot twenty students and six faculty members, and then took their own life ( CNN). On December 14, 2012, beginning around nine-thirty in the morning, a shooter, whose name I will not be including in this essay to prevent their name from being spread, entered the building with three firearms. In this essay, I will analyze the ethos and pathos exhibited by this short, especially in regards to the group which produced it, the specific Kairos of a short like this, and a discussion of whether Kairos can even apply to such a continuous topic, contrasted to the Kairos of a much more recent “advertisement” style PSA released much more recently.Īs I mentioned in my speech, the group that created this PSA, Sandy Hook Promise, is very familiar with the subject of school shootings. However, while the focus of the PSA is on who we are told is Evan, the audience is encouraged to pay special attention to the boy in the background, who we see initially reading a gun enthusiast magazine followed by multiple shots of him behaving in a way that suggests that he is either a “loner” or at least somewhat of a social outcast and finally we see the culmination of this other student’s behavior when, in the last shot, the gym doors burst open and the sound of gunfire is heard.

In the short video entitled “Evan,” released by Sandy Hook Promise on December 2nd, 2016, we watch as a teenaged boy seemingly enters a new relationship when he writes a message on a library desk and ends up with a response the next day.

Example of rough draft of rhetorical analysis