Activity 3: Analysis of Letter by Chong Guang Jun (11)

The writer has made use of all three persuasion methods, ethos, pathos and logos.

For ethos, the writer stated 'As a concerned parent' which defined his position is this matter, as his has the rights to claim that guns should not be allowed, since his child was killed by a gun. He also saw what happened exactly, so he knows what is needed to be done and why. He ended his letter with 'especially the right to LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness', a strong phrase which also made his stand to the matter.

As for pathos, the writer started with 'I am hoping that you will continue to make excellent decisions on behalf of your state', which was aimed at appealing to the Congressman's emotions, so that there would be a better chance of persuading him. The writer also mentioned that the murderer was a child, whose gun belonged to his or her father, shot the gun. This is trying to tell the Congressman that if he does not support the gun control legislation, he would be responsible for the deaths by gun.

For logos, the writer gave statistics to support his claim, 'according to the F.B.I, approximately 60 percent of all murder victims in the United States in 1994 (about 16,000 people) were killed with firearms? According to estimates, firearm attacks injured another 70,000 victims, some of whom were left permanently disabled'. This helped to convince the Congressman that there are already many cases of people killed by guns, thus they should be controlled, even if they are children, who might misuse the gun by accident.