Jillian Hansell

Rhetorical Analysis
My rhetorical analysis is on the article The Optimism of
Uncertainty by Howard Zinn. This article comes from a book called
The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizens Guide to Hope in a
Time of Fear The articles is mainly intended towards social activists.
The article was published on September 2, 2004.
Zinn refers to huge events from the past to support the main
idea. He talks about the life being a gamble and the world being
unpredictable. Zinn refers to some wars in the past like World War II, a
revolution in Russia, and a war in Indochina. Being someone who
doesnt know much about world history and wars its clear what the
point is he is trying to make. Ultimately, what he uses to conclude
talking about all of these wars is that you dont need guns and money;
what people today think holds power in todays world to make the
difference. The quote that pulls it together is the struggle for justice
should never be abandoned because of the apparent overwhelming
power of those who have the guns and the money and who seem
invincible in their determination to hold on to it this statement right
here helps every reader that has no clue about history understand
what he is trying to get a crossed. The main claim of this article is
about making a positive change in our world. One of Zinns most
important quotes states, we dont have to engage in grand, heroic
actions to participate in the process of change says a lot about the
main claim of this article. Referring to some of the biggest events in
history and pretty much saying that they really accomplished nothing
and even though all these terrible things have happened he still has
hope. Overall, Zinn gives his readers the ability to nod their head in

agreement throughout his piece since he gives some really great

examples. By him using this technique it really helps Zinn demonstrate
ethos and pathos simply because he is demonstrating how much he
knows about world history and how they affect our world and he uses
the emotional impact of these events to his advantage in order to
persuade the reader. When using historical events to back up a main
claim I feel gives the article a great amount of creditability. But, for
readers that are like me who struggle with knowledge about historical
events like these I feel it would be best for him to go more in depth to
help the reader better understand the point of view his is trying to get
a crossed.
I think that Howard Zinns article demonstrates many great
qualities for using rhetoric in an opinionated article. He supports his
claim throughout most of the article before stating the purpose. He
does this buy using examples of emotional times in history to explain
how we have been through such hard times and we have still managed
to pull through to portray hope for the reader. Which I think is truly a
great idea to write this type of article. He refers to iconic things in
history that have impacted people all over the world, then uses those
references to support his opinion to the point where it gives a better
understanding on why he feels the way he does. This does make it
really hard for the reader to disagree with what he is saying, as a
reader myself I agreed with the facts that he did use, which made me
more understanding to his point of view. He truly used a good sense of
rhetoric when writing this because anyone who knows anything about
history is most likely going to agree with him.
When an article is supporting such a huge opinion should be
more reader friendly. Hearing a little bit of more information on the
wars he talks about would be helpful, For example, Zinn states A
revolution to overthrow the czar of Russia, in that most sluggish of
semi-feudal empires, not only startled the most advanced imperial

powers but took Lenin himself by surprise and sent him rushing by
train to Petrograd. Not everyone has a great understanding of world
history and the cause and effects of certain wars and historical events.
So, when he refers to them in sort of a scattered and fast way it can be
hard to follow. I felt like in organization of the actually article was great,
but the organization of the historical evens was pretty hard to follow. I
felt like after reading this a few times I started to better understand it.
But, if just anyone was reading that article and struggled with it they
would most likely just disregard it. Maybe it would be a little more
reader friendly if there were a little more detail about the events so it
would be good for a reader who maybe didnt have a good
understanding of history.
Now lets talk about pathos, even though I think that ethos is
incredibly important pathos plays a huge role in this article as well.
Pathos deals with emotion by using argument. Opinionated articles use
argument because they are trying to convince you to see their point of
view and agree with it. Most of the references about history can
absolutely affect everyone differently for example, he states in the
beginning of his article And then the postwar world, taking a shape no
one could have drawn in advance: The Chinese Communist revolution,
the tumultuous and violent Cultural Revolution, and then another
turnabout, with post-Mao China renouncing its most fervently held
ideas and institutions, making overtures to the West, cuddling up to
capitalist enterprise, perplexing everyone. For some readers this
quote could mean a lot and be very emotional for someone who it
personally affects to who has a lot of knowledge but, for someone like
me who didnt even know this time even existed its really hard to get
that emotional impact. But, what Howard Zinn is trying to do here is
use peoples own emotions and opinions about these events to make
people more likely to agree with is main claim at the end of the article.

When it comes to using rhetoric I truly think that Zinn did a great
job. He knows who is audience is and what to say to affect them to the
most which makes them more likely to agree with his own opinion. His
tone through out this article is very determined and hopeful. He wants
to convince his reader that it is about the small things that matter and
not the huge iconic things that happen. He has hope for humanity and
this message really comes through in the way that he writes his
opinion. Ultimately, I think that Howard Zinns article demonstrates
many great qualities for using rhetoric in an opinionated article.