Monday, September 17, 2012

TOW #1 - Slain Marine Predicts Insider Attack


            This week, a tragedy occurred in a United States Marine base in southern Afghanistan.  One Marine, who was training new recruits, accurately predicted that he would be gunned down by one of his own men inside of his own base.  This was made clear through phone calls and letters sent home prior to his falling.  The article was found on CNN’s website and written using the primary source of the soldier’s father, making the article extremely accurate.  The piece was published in the midst of a heated debate regarding the war in Afghanistan, which is also an important topic in the upcoming election. 
            This article was written to the everyday citizen that does not have a strong opinion of the war yet.  It was structured in order to convince readers that this devastating war should end quickly.  The article first drew people in by isolating the phrase that showed that the Marine predicted his own death.  Then, the author heavily relied on pathos by giving a play-by-play of the devastation that the family of the fallen soldier faced.  The story given will tug on anybody’s heart and served as a gateway to the statistics that were provided about trainees killing their mentors, or green-on-blues.  More pathos was then added at the end by describing the soldier’s brother’s football game, in which he saluted his brother.  Altogether, the author played with the readers’ emotions very well, in addition to grounding his arguments with facts, to portray his focus to the reader.

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