Rhetorical Analysis Of Leslie Garrett's Essay You Can Do It Baby

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Have you ever tried to bolster a child’s self-esteem by saying “You can be anything you want when you grow up”? What if you knew that in today’s society, saying this would increase disappointment; thus faltering a child’s self-esteem later on in life. Author Leslie Garrett, who wrote the article “You Can Do It, Baby!” in 2015, talks about the common phenomena of hindering a child’s opportunity of finding satisfaction in life, by encouraging them that they will grow up to be anything they want, without limitations. Garrett utilizes rhetorical devices to promote the emotional and logical perspectives supporting her claim; however, she incorporates a handful of in-text citations from scholars, psychiatrists, and academic professionals in order to persuade the reader of the article’s credibility. Garrett begins her article by describing the mind-set of a 12 year old, Gwenyth, who tested as gifted amongst a majority of her peers at West Oaks French Immersion School in Ontario. Like most children or adolescents, Gwenyth has an idea of what …show more content…

However, the argument is successfully conveyed, more so, with the usage of ethos and logos. For logos, it is by using a survey early on in the article to show the audience, that in American culture children are likely to develop unrealistic goals in response to grown-ups encouraging them to follow their dreams, no matter how lofty. Because of this appeal to logos, Garrett manages to appeal to the audience’s emotions by getting them to inquire about a time where they may have told a child that they could be anything they wanted to be when they grow up, and the negative effect this could have. As for ethos, Garrett promotes her article’s credibility by using both academic and ordinary sources; therefore, allowing her to expand her audience beyond those with a higher form of education. Throughout the entire article, Garrett can be seen using rhetorical appeals to support her

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