Use Of Ethos In A Symbol Of Man's Greatness

A Symbol of Man's Greatness Ayn Rand demonstrates patriotism in the passage A Symbol of Man’s Greatness as she conveys the Apollo 11 lunar landings. The speaker is Ayn, a famous novelist who wrote this for the Objectivist, which values individualism, freedom and reason. Her purpose is to inform the American people about this grand achievement, and inspire others. Rand applies virtually no ethos and logos in this excerpt; leading to an ineffective stance. She strongly uses pathos when to appeal to the dramatic news of Apollo 11. Ayn’s commentary is predominantly based off of the use of pathos. Pathos is the appeal to emotion that evokes emotional responses among the audience. It is clear that Ayn uses pathos through her writing. The way she
describes the launch of the space shuttle helps paint a picture in your mind. Her glorified imagery causes the audience to see the launch as more exciting than it might have originally been. Too much pathos without proper significant use of ethos and logos can be dangerous in the sense that it makes the audience believe you are “sucking up to them.” However, Ayn is eliciting excitement for this achievement in history, not necessarily in an attempt to deceive; She says in her own words a “demonstration of man’s highest potential.” Ethos is essentially an appeal to character, credibility and authority. Particularly in this text, ethos appears in a considerably less than pathos. From the document, ethos is seen in her style of writing. Rand appears to be an eyewitness to this event through her expressive language. Ayn Rand depicts the situation as a “crackling, grinding sound, as if space were breaking apart” and says that she “felt a shock of anxiety.” Ayn does not present enough information on herself to give sufficient credibility in order for the readers to know how to perceive here. Logos is the appeal to logic, a way to use reason and structured arguments to assist in persuading an audience. Ayn uses logos much less frequently than both other appeals. The use of logos also depends heavily on the speaker's credibility and the usage of ethos. Ayn mentions that this launch was “the concertized abstraction of man’s greatness.” It’s hard for the audience to deny that this wasn’t a large human achievement and how this set the way for new technology. But Ayns lack of ethos and excessive use of pathos makes what she says seem to have less value.