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Rhetorical Analysis: Joyce Alcantara's Mothers Against Drunk Driving

1789 Words8 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis This essay represents an effective piece of argumentation. The author states her purpose by saying teens are not mature enough to handle a lower age to legally drink alcohol. Tag? Joyce Alcantara tries to convince the readers that the age to legally drink should not be altered and assumes that the audience agrees that “Our youths today are the leaders of tomorrow” (468). With that, we must protect our years ahead. Alcantara addresses her audience as if they seem uninformed, she addresses various points on why teens younger than twenty-one should not consume alcohol. Tag? The opposing audience of this argument often say if eighteen-year-olds can serve in the Army, vote, drive, and marry, why can they not legally consume …show more content…

Tag? When the author mentions that alcohol can lead a drunk person to behave in a way that a sober person would likely not, it could lead to teen pregnancy, rape, and suicide. Another scenario is a car accident that could have been prevented if alcohol was not involved pg . Those definitely do not bring happy thoughts to the readers minds. Logos appeal to reason or the facts that the author uses to support their view and the opposings on the argument. The author uses several sources including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although this essay contains many positive points and convinces the audience that the legal age to drink should not lower, it does contain a logical fallacy. The essay uses card stacking, although it states the opposing argument the only facts noted in the essay support the side that the author takes. …show more content…

Robert Voas states teen pregnancy, sexual assaults, and crime rates have increased due to underage drinking. Alcohol consumption at a college age leads to 600,000 physical assaults and 70,000 sexual assaults yearly according to a study (464). Joyce Alcantara claims if the age were lowered back to eighteen then it would put younger teens at risk (468). People tend to have friends around their same age. So, if eighteen year olds were allowed to drink then their friends which are roughly around the age of sixteen or seventeen would likely have an alcoholic drink in their hand as well. “There’s No Benefit to Lowering the Drinking Age” explains, on average about eleven teens die daily as a result of drunk driving (Voas 464). When teens throw a party, alcohol is usually involved. Then once the party is over the kids have to get home somehow and they often drive themselves. When an alcoholic drink is placed in an eighteen-year-old hand decisions are made that harm them and others

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