The first strategy that King uses is logos. It is meant to persuade the audience to believe in the message given to them through the use of logic or reasoning. An example within the essay is when King writes that if you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. Theres no way around these two things that Im aware of, no shortcutΒ
(King, pg 20). King goes on to explain that reading, whether the material is good or bad in the way it is written, gives one insight and that most of the time poorly written books are the ones that give the best advice. Through this line, he also further emphasizes his main point, that reading and writing go hand in hand, by using repetition. By repeating a lot, King is able to show that both reading and writing are extremely important and that there is no limit in which there is a line to reach.
Kings essay is sarcastic and overly
dramatic in certain areas within his essay. By setting this type of mood, the way the audience feels towards the writers subject, he is using an important and highly persuasive rhetorical appeal: pathos. Pathos is what drives readers to deeply connect to the material they are reading essay, whether it is an informational piece or a fictional one. In Kings essay, for example, he develops his argument by explaining that by reducing the amount of time a person spends watching tv, he/she will begin reading more and thus become a better writer, by using this appeal. In order to keep his tone, the way an author expresses his/her attitude through their writing, amusing and conversational, King uses a direct way of getting his points across through metaphors. He also uses references throughout the following paragraph, bringing up well-known tv shows and channels to show how tv is an obstacle to writing success: