Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse Fransheska Garcia University of Texas at El Paso

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse

Breast Cancer has been a world issue for many years, and as the years have passed the more aware people are becoming of this horrible illness. Knight Ridder in his article Treating Breast Cancer gives a list of cancer treatments and gives an explanation of each treatment. Also seen within Ridders writing there is ethos, pathos and logos. As an author Knight Ridder is someone who gets to the point and writes about what is meant to be written, meaning that in the article Ridder did not write about himself and what makes him a good and credible author. Nowhere in the article did Ridder say what makes him a good author and why we should trust what he is saying. The reason being that in reality we do not know if these articles are true and credible, because he did not mention any of his information on whether he has a degree on any of this. But the reason why I think this article is a good credible source is because for example if someone had gotten their information from elibrary, this program is a program that I was taught to use in my high school and they always told me that everything that was in that program were good credible sources. In many cases the teachers would tell the students that elibrary was a very good program and was much better to use then the regular internet because it is a special program that only has credible sources. This lead to me trusting this article more and being comfortable with using it, which leads to why Ridder has a good ethos even if he did not have any credibility. Ridder has a good amount of ethos in his article, which is also backed up with proof that makes each treatment true. In the article Ridder gives the names of breast cancer treatments and gives an explanation of each treatment as well and by doing this Ridder wants to inform the reader on all the different types of treatment options there is for breast cancer. For example some treatments that Ridder list are radiation therapy, systemic therapy, surgery and mastectomy. For a mastectomy Ridder says that (Knight Ridder, 2013) surgeons remove the entire breast but do not cut away any lymph nodes from the under arm The wording that Ridder uses can reassure the way readers read the article

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse the reason being that the article was written straight forward, with no maybes or I think's. For mastectomy started with the word surgeons, meaning that is what is done during that treatment. In addition to the explanation of each treatments and the wording of the article Ridder also gives sources at the end of his. These articles are given because they are references or sources from where Ridder got his information from. For example some of the sources listed were the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute. By Ridder giving these sources, it gave more proof that his article is credible and that the information is accurate, and the sources given are organizations that have been heard in society a couple of times meaning they are more likely to be good credible sources as well. With the sources being good credible source and nicely written it means that the pathos given in the article are more likely to be accepted and have the impact the author wants to give. In the article Ridder provides pathos by giving the names of treatments for breast

cancer. Ridder wants his readers to know that there is hope for females and males who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Ridder shows that there is hope out there by listing and explaining each treatment, and after listing each treatment Ridder explains exactly what is done in each treatment and what that treatment helps the most with, whether it be a tumor or if the cancer is in the blood. For example for radiation therapy Ridder says ( Knight Ridder, 2013) "Radiation therapy can shrink a tumor before surgery or can destroy cancer cells left behind in the breast, chest wall or armpit after surgery". In this sentence Ridder is saying that if still after surgery the patient still has breast cancer cells in the body then radiation will help kill what is left of it. This also shows hope for patients and it reassures them that there is still another option that can help. As mentioned previously Ridders pathos is to make the reader feel like there is hope and it reassures them that the treatments will help, and if not there are others that can help. These treatments also make readers feel hope because when the reader is reading the article, the reader is thinking how successful these treatments could be and how many lives it can change and save.

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse The article also brings happiness to the reader because the reader will feel happiness for all the patients who are suffering from breast cancer. Another reason being that they may have a loved

one with breast cancer, this article will bring hope and happiness because the reader now knows all the options there is for treating breast cancer. As seen Ridder gives throughout the article pathos but not only does he give the reader that, but Knight gives the reader logos as well. In the article Ridder provides logos by giving the name of breast cancer treatments and explaining each treatment as well. But the problem is that Ridder may have logos but Ridder does not backup his information that he gives or give proof to his information. For example Ridder says that (Ridder, 2013) Systemic therapy, which includes chemotherapy and hormone therapy, is the best prospect for wiping out wandering cancer cells that can establish new tumors outside the breast. It is the main treatment for women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. In this quote Ridder explains what systemic for women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. In this quote Ridder explains what systemic therapy is and what type of breast cancer it helps, but Ridder does not give any percentage rate or any proof whether or not the therapy worked or whether it cured the breast cancer. For something to be a good logos the author must have proof to support his argument and show that his words and work is correct. Proof can be demonstrated in different ways depending on the article and what the article is supporting. But in this case for Ridders article to have a strong logos Ridder should have included some percentage rates of each treatment and how efficient it is as well as whether the treatment made the patient feel better or even if it cured the cancer. Something that Ridder included in his article were the side effect of each treatment. For example for systemic therapy Ridder wrote that the side effects are premature menopause, fatigue, mouth sores, easy bleeding or minor cuts or injuries(Ridder, 2013). But once again Ridder gives the side effects or the consequences but he does not state whether or not each treatment was successful. If Ridder would have supported his argument by giving proof on treatment was successful. If Ridder would have supported his argument by

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse giving proof on treatment was successful. If Ridder would have supported his argument by

giving proof on whether or not the treatments were successful and whether or not the patient was cured from breast cancer, Ridder would have a good and strong logos in his article. As seen Ridder gives treatments on curing breast cancer. He does so by giving these treatments, Ridder also has given the reader ethos, pathos and logos. Ethos was given through Ridders article by giving information and backing the information up. Ridder backed up his information by giving the sources at the end, from where he got his information. The sources given were from well-known organizations such as the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute. These sources give Ridder's article more support to what he has in his article. Pathos was seen in the article because Ridder wants readers to feel hope, the reason being because these treatments can cure breast cancer. For logos Ridder does not show proof that the treatments have worked and he does not support his article. If Ridder would have put percentage rates on each treatment and what have proof of what possibilities there is that the treatments will work, his article would be stronger.

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse

References

Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service/(Producer).(1999) Treating Breast Cancer [Video Clip].

Egos, Pathos and Logos in Breast Cancer Discourse

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