Rhetorical Analysis Of Geoffrey Shepherd's Article

In Geoffrey Shepherds Article he tires to support, connect and persuade his audience. In “It’s clear the US should not have bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki”, he tries to persuade the audience that the atomic bomb should have never been dropped.

Shepherd attempts to persuade his audience by using emotion throughout his article. In his article he states “The bombings probably killed more than 200,000 Japanese civilians and maimed untold more. Such destruction of life stirs me to sorrow and outrage.” Geoffrey shows emotion to the destruction Atomic Bombs created and he tries to talk about the harm they do. From here on, he continues using pathos as his element to persuade. “America would have shown its compassion and humanity.” Shepherd believes that America should have at least thought about the harm before doing. The author looks at the harm and show his emotion toward the situation.

Shepherd fails in using logos because he could not support his statements in anything. “Such a warning shot could have persuaded the Japanese to end the war, and it’s human nature would have enhanced the US’s moral standing. Geoffrey can not persuade his audience because this is not a fact or reasoning. Using words such as “could have” does not persuade his audience and he fails at showing his audience that these bombings shouldn't have been dropped. Also, in the second to last paragraph Shepherd says “Had the US not dropped the A-bombs, the nuclear arms race might have proceeded more slowly and less wastefully, possibly without hydrogen bombs.” The author could not support his opinions due to the words he used while in his persuasive essay. Shepherd did not convince his audience due to lack of information