Nick Lundgren

Rhetorical Analysis

English 1010
Gordon Dunne
11/18/15
In Matthew OBrians article, titled Poverty is literally making people sick because they
cant afford food, he discusses a new study that shows that people who are classified as low
income are found to have health problems, especially problems having to do with blood sugar.
The article is written to a wide audience, although it seems to be targeted at people with similar
political views to his own. The title, although lengthy does an effective job of grabbing a
readers attention because it sounds like a hyperbole, yet it summarizes the article very well. The
purpose of this article is to inform readers of a phenomenon happening to lower income people.
The author to his ethos by his writing experience. He has written many articles about
finances. Many of his articles are about financial issues affecting specific financial classes,
giving him a sort of expertise with this issue he is writing about. The article does have a small
amount of Kairos as it is an issue people are facing today.
At the start of the article OBrian informs the reader of the issue he is writing about and
the people who did the study. He also tries to put the issue into more simple terms, he does this
by using terms like The basic idea is. It is written in a very simplistic manner, like how you
would explain something to a friend. He then goes more in-depth about the issue and appeals to
logos by including a graph that shows increased visits to the doctor for high blood pressure for
low income patients.

Nick Lundgren

Rhetorical Analysis

English 1010
Gordon Dunne
11/18/15
He explains the graph and addresses counter arguments that it may just be because poorer
people are less healthy. He then relates this to his view as the source of this problem. He uses
italics to have his views stand out from the rest of the paragraph. OBrian inputs his views and
ideas on how to fix this problem. This is where the article seems to change in a lot of different
ways. Now his word choice turns from analytical to political. His tone also seems to shift from
explanatory to slightly accusatory as he seems to blame the people who hold different political
standpoints for putting laws into effect that change the way welfare works for the people with
lower incomes. His rhetoric seems to shift as well, he stops trying to use facts and statistics and
switches to using emotions. OBrian tries to persuade his audience by making it seem like it is
their fault that these people are having health problems because they are not putting enough
money into welfare, he also tries to rally them to agree with this point of view. He does this by
using phrases like We can do better.. He then uses more active language when he is offering
his proposed solution to his audience.
There is also some Kairos in this part of the essay, because he is pushing a political issue
and politics have been in the news with the upcoming election.
To conclude, OBrian does a pretty good job of explaining the issue to his readers, but
does a less effective job of persuading them to agree with his point of view. His diction is
simple for the people who just are reading the article to pass time, as is shown in his use of terms
like the basic idea is. The author also uses more complex language for the readers who are

Nick Lundgren

Rhetorical Analysis

English 1010
Gordon Dunne
11/18/15
passionate about this issue, using technical terms in his in depth explanations. Overall this was a
good article, while it has flaws, one of which being it seems to appear as an information article,
but turns into a persuasive and seemingly pushy article towards the end of the essay. Even with
these flaws the essay does is pretty well done; it has some ethos and Kairos. The article does a
better job with logos and pathos. The author did a very good job overall.