Rhetorical Analysis Of Why So Many Children Of Immigrants Rise To The Top

Zachary Verzani

ENGL 250

Rhetorical Analysis

27 February 2023

Rhetorical Analysis

Peter Coy writes a New York Times article, "Why So Many Children of Immigrants Rise to the Top" addressed to the American population in hopes to argue that immigrants affect our economy through pathos, logos, and kairos in a positive way. The author reveals past records to represent the longevity of these positive outcomes. He then follows with discovered statistics to present the logistics for this argument. While the inclusion of children does play an emotional aspect, Coy furthers these feelings by describing the struggles immigrants overcome to earn their place. Coy’s use of kairos, logos, and pathos to impressively argue towards immigrants impacting our

He goes into depth about how the different generations of immigrants affect the economy, “While ‘first-generation immigrants are more costly to governments than are the native-born,’ according to a 2017 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the ‘second generation are among the strongest fiscal and economic contributors in the U.S.” (Coy.) After comparing the separate generations of immigrants, he then continued to compare second generation immigrants to native Americans. “Looking at census records from 1880, the researchers found that men whose fathers were low-income immigrants made more money as adults than the sons of low-income men born in the United States.”(Coy.) This statistic was then narrowed down to looking into how immigrants from different countries affect America’s economy. “Professor Abramitzky and Professor Boustan observed the same pattern a century later. Children born around 1980 to men from Mexico, India, Brazil and almost every other country outearned the children of U.S.-born men.” (Coy.) These examples reveal the incline of earnings created by immigrants and their children. By providing the logistics of this arguments creates a strength towards the author’s argument. Facts paired with a play on emotion can create a significantly stronger

Examples backing up Coy’s argument dating back to the late 1800s reveal to the audience the ongoing proof for his view. Positive instances dating back this far in the past prove it is not a current change in immigrants’ successes. Credible statistics force the audience to accept the positives immigrants and their children have on the economy. Playing on emotions can diminish biases, and sway audience members to a side they were not fighting for in the beginning. The empathy created provides a more positive outlook towards immigrants and their offspring. Peter Coy earnestly displayed his argument through the use of kairos, logos, and pathos. His use of rhetorical strategies bring up a moral theme of what can be accomplished through hard