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Definition of Logos
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Chapter 4: The Fight
Explanation and Analysis—"Let's Just Go":
Dana employs logos in her argument to Kevin that he should leave all thoughts of revenge behind in order to quickly escape from the Weylin Plantation. Earlier, Dana and Kevin were separated when she inadvertently returned to 1976 without him. Upon her subsequent return to the past, she is brutally beaten on the orders of Tom Weylin for teaching another enslaved person how to read. Finally reunited with Dana, a furious Kevin asks her if Tom was responsible for her injuries:
“Yes! Please forget it. I might have to live here again someday.” I shook my head. “Hate Weylin all you want to. I do. But don’t do anything to him. Let’s just get out of here.”
“It was him then.”
“Yes!”
He turned slowly and stared toward the main house. His face was lined and grim where it wasn’t hidden by the beard [...]
“Kevin, please, let’s just go.”
He turned that same hard stare on me.
“Do anything to them and I’ll suffer for it,” I whispered urgently. “Let’s go! Now!”
He stared at me a moment longer [...]
In this passage, Kevin responds to the sight of Dana’s injuries with fury, and Dana understands that he intends to avenge her by inflicting some form of violence upon Tom. Resisting his impassioned response, Dana handles the situation logically, arguing that he should abandon his plan for revenge. Here, she reasons that, due to the unpredictable nature of her time-travel, she might someday have to return to the Plantation, and there will be trouble for her there if Kevin attacks Tom. Further, she notes that the other enslaved people on the farm will “suffer” for his plans for revenge. Ultimately, a reluctant Tom follows the logic of her argument, and the two return to 1976.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5: The Storm
Explanation and Analysis—"Some Folks Say":
Dana uses both logos and simile in her argument with Sam Jones, who notes to Dana that many other enslaved people on the Weylin Plantation distrust her both because of her seemingly close relationship to Rufus and because they falsely perceive her to be his mistress:
“Some folks say …”
“Hold on.” I was suddenly angry. “I don’t want to hear what ‘some folks’ say. ‘Some folks’ let Fowler drive them into the fields every day and work them like mules.”
“Let him …?”
“Let him! They do it to keep the skin on their backs and breath in their bodies. Well, they’re not the only ones who have to do things they don’t like to stay alive and whole. Now you tell me why that should be so hard for ‘some folks’ to understand?”
He sighed. “That’s what I told them.”
Sam begins to inform Dana of how others on the Plantation perceive her, but she cuts him off. Despite her anger, she makes a careful and logical argument, claiming that, ultimately, all enslaved people on the Plantation have accepted that obedience is the only way to stay safe. Her position, then, is not unlike those working in the fields, who permit the overseer to “work them like mules” in order to “keep the skin on their backs.” This simile, comparing human beings to beasts of burden, underscores both the brutal work that takes place in the field and the violence that keeps this system in place. All enslaved people on the Plantation, she reasons, “have to do things they don’t like to stay alive and whole,” regardless of whether they work in the fields or are permitted greater intimacy with the members of the Weylin family.
Related Themes:
