17GoingOn1810

= "17 Going on 18"  = = Rhetorical Analysis =

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Erika Williams, Lauren Crupi, Anna Frei  **Why:** She decided to write the letter because "Golden Girl's" mother had asked her to say something to her daughter. "Golden Girl" had everything going for her, but she had started to smoke, and mom wanted her to know the consequences of her actions, what it could do to her life. ** Shown: ** She uses examples about what could happen to Golden Girl if she was to continue smoking. She talks about how her Father-In-Law had died from lunch cancer, from smoking. She also quotes a model who told to learn how to smoke, at 17, for a photoshoot, and how she became addicted. The model, Janet, lost part of her lung, and her larynx, because she smoked. Janet urges the writer to tell "Golden Girl" : "And I'm one of the lucky ones," she added, "Because I'm alive. I wish I had realized how important my life was when I was seventeen. Tell her the single most important thing to do for your looks ancl your life, the single most important thing, is not to smoke. lf she could hear me speak, she'd listen." **Ethos:** She presented herself as a person who opposes smoking, and in a semi-casual way. She seemed to be a little sad when she wrote the letter, maybe even disappointed. **Pathos:** The reader's response could be disgust towards smoking, and turn them away from it. They could also maybe feel sad for, Janet, the model who lost her voicebox, for what she lost and what had happened to her. ** Logos: ** Smoking is bad and it can kill/hurt you, and examples of people who have died or lost something because of smoking. ** Claim: ** The author believes that smoking is bad. The author states: "There's nothing confusing about smoking for me." ** Evidence: ** The author uses two different people's stories to get her point across. One about her father-in-law who passed from smoking, and a model, Janet, who lost part of her lung and her voicebox because she started smoking when she was young. She also talks about yellow teeth, yellow fingers, how it makes you smell, and how hard it is to quit. ** Differing Views: ** There are no differing views in this letter, but the young girl she's writing to has a different view on this issue; she had started to smoke and the author was trying to make her change her mind. ** Evaluation: ** We believe that she did a very good job getting her point across, and we like the examples that she used. They can very easily make you think twice about picking up a cigarette. ======