Charles Blow Rhetorical Analysis

Analysis Essay
Does the analysis of an article reveal the hidden messages? The answer is yes, by searching through the text, it is possible to find out so much. With the use of different analyzing techniques the hidden messages will be revealed. This is done by examining the text in sections to find different techniques such as tone, repetition, pathos,and word choice.
In the article Suicide of a Dishonest Officer Charles Blow’s word choice showed his tone. Charles Blow, The tall, veteran author, chose to use some very harsh words which made the tone of this article come off as negative. He used the word betrayal in several forms five different times in the first two paragraphs of the essay. The use of the word stealing definitely helped

show Blow’s negative opinion of Gliniewicz. Gliniewicz was even called a thief in this piece. The author almost seems mad at Gliniewicz for taking his own life. The only person at fault for this tragedy is Gliniewicz, says Blow . With these pieces of evidence it is not hard to tell that Blow thinks very low of Gliniewicz. With his tone and word choice, it is easy to decode that Blow make think Gliniewicz as a coward for taking his life instead of facing the consequences of his actions.
Throughout this article Blow also uses the repetition of words to get the tone across. The word that is repeated the most is betrayal. Betrayal is an extremely strong word to say about anyone and is never taken lightly. Blow used betrayal as if it is the worst thing you could possibly do to someone. Anyone who had no opinion of Gliniewicz prior to reading this article would now. With Blow’s negative tone and repetition of negative words, it is hard to not have a negative opinion of Gliniewicz now.
The appeal to pathos was quite clear throughout a large portion of this New York Times’ article.

This may or may not have been on purpose. With circumstances Blow was provided to write about there is not really a way to avoid pathos. In this piece pathos is used both towards Joe’s family, friends, and himself. The feeling of sympathy is felt strongly for the family while the feeling of anger or resentment is felt towards Joe himself. The author chose words to describe the family that really pull at the heart strings. Blow says, “her sense of loss law”. From that statement it is easy to see that Blow meant that her pain from the loss was still fresh. He may have used this to relate to people who have lost someone before, and it may have brought back the emotions that the person felt at that time. At the same time Blow is getting sympathy for the family, he is also getting the audience angry at G.I. Joe. The determined author found a statement that was written about Joe in a good light. Then he went and said, “that mentor is also a thief”. Blow wanted to spark some emotions with that statement. Blow continued on to write about how Gliniewicz stole from a youth group he was a leader of. This could cause many people to think he is mean enough to take from a charitable organization, which could in return spark madness. Blow does a nice job of bringing out more than one emotion in just a short amount of

time.
Blow made his opinion known discreetly throughout his article. His opinion of Gliniewicz wasn’t high and it was easy to tell by his tone, repetition, pathos,and word choice. His opinion of the family seemed to be much higher than his for Joe, you could also tell by his tone, repetition, pathos,and word choice. By the end of the article with the use of many different techniques to examine the sections it is easy to find the hidden meaning and the opinion of the author.