This essay discusses Kirk Semple’s article, Moving to U.S. and Amassing a Fortune, No English Needed. The article discusses the increase in the number of wealthy “Americans” who, ironically, cannot speak English. Precisely, the writer uses Felix Sanchez, a Mexican, who crossed to America in 1970 and amassed lots of wealth over a period of 40 years as an illustration for his discussion. According to Sanchez, he does not need English to operate his tortillas business because all his customers are Hispanics.
Semple also uses other people from different countries to illustrate his argument. This paper looks at the strengths of Semple’s essay: it analyzes his use of ethos, pathos, and logos. In the light of these elements, Semple engages personal branding, alludes to credible sources, properly structures his argument, gives statistics, studies and cases and makes comparisons and analogies. In addition, he alludes to the audience’s emotions and values by using stories, inspirational quotes, and a vivid language.
Ethos refers to the ethical appeal to the audience. Usually, people achieve it through attempting to win their audiences’ trust. Semple is credible since he is a graduate of Yale University and has been a reporter for different companies in the various countries for many years. Precisely, he has worked for companies such as the Associated Press and the Miami New Times before joining the Ney York Times.
In addition, he has a native fluency in both Spanish and English. As a result, the audience is more likely to trust him on matters concerning Spanish immigrants compared to a reporter who is new in the immigration sector and does not know Spanish. Secondly, he displays much confidence in his discussion.
For example, he is sure that Mr. Sanchez is not the only immigrant that believes one does not need to know English to be successful in the US. He says, “Mr. Sanchez is part of a small class of immigrants who arrived in the United States with nothing and, despite speaking little or no English, became remarkably prosperous” (Semple 20). The use of direct speech also plays an important part in the building of his confidence. He quotes Mr. Sanchez’s speech to reiterate his arguments.
Finally, he quotes from credible sources, and that aspect also makes his argument plausible. For example, he quotes Nancy Foner, a professor of sociology in an attempt to demonstrate the rise in the number of uneducated immigrant businesspersons because of technological advancement (Semple 20). The audience is more likely to trust a professor and no other ordinary “specialists”.
Good arguments also engage pathos in passing their messages to their audiences. Pathos includes the writer’s reference to the audience’s emotions and values. In this article, Semple achieves this objective by using anecdotes, inspirational quotes, and vivid language. Semple majorly uses Sanchez’s story in illustrating the gravity of the problem he addresses. He describes Sanchez’s story from his humble beginning to the point he becomes a millionaire.
In addition, he specifically looks for quotes that are likely to touch the emotions of his readers. For example, he quotes Sanchez saying, “The entire market is Hispanic…You don’t need English” (Semple 20). Such a statement shows the attitudes that money-minded immigrants have about America. The writer also uses a very vivid language with the view of making every reader understand his argument.
Semple knows that many Americans have a high sense of patriotism to their country, and he appeals to them by clearly describing the attitudes that immigrants have towards the operation of the business in America. Such a description persuades the audience to agree with him about the gravity of the situation by making them feel that the immigrants do not respect their country.
The last rhetorical device that Semple uses in his article is logos. Logos is the logical appeal that writers engage in persuading their readers. Many writers use facts and systematic structures in the creation of logic in their work. Semple uses an appropriately structured argument, facts and statistics and contextualized cases in his article. The article has a good introduction, body, and conclusion. In the introduction, Semple describes Sanchez’s situation and goes ahead to use it and other cases in the main body of the essay.
He concludes the argument by quoting an immigrant of a Korean origin saying, “The success of my life is not only that I make a lot of money…but that I make a lot of Korean people’s lives better” (Semple 20). This quote emphasizes his argument that most immigrants do concern themselves with making money and benefitting their nations of origin and not making any contribution to America as a nation.
Semple also uses facts and statistics in defending his argument. For example, he states that Sanchez and his wife invested $12, 000 in their tortilla business. He also says that by 2010, about 4.5 million adult income-earners in the US could not speak English fluently. The cases he uses in the discussion, including that of Sanchez, also demonstrate his use of logic.
In summary, Semple perfectly uses the three rhetorical devices in passing his message. He appeals to ethics, emotions and values and is very logical in the handling of his topic. For this reason, Semple’s presentation of his ideas is very useful
Works Cited
Semple, Kirk. “Moving to U.S. and Amassing a Fortune, No English Needed.” New York Times. 2011: 20. Print.