Rhetorical Analysis Of Driven To Distraction By Dave Barry

Can your children get you in serious trouble and even send you to prison!? Obviously, yes. One such a man, author Dave Barry, wrote “Driven to distraction,” published on December 30, 2001. Barry’s article is very effective as he explained the difficulty of satisfying children’s demands by using humor and relied on his personal experiences with his daughter along with emotional appeals and strong logos, which support his position.

Barry first sets the stage by describing a specific scenario of nice humorous introduction, when he made the reader imagine himself pulled over by the police for acting like a teapot while driving! This humorous introduction caught the reader’s attention, making him more excited to read the entire article. As for the ethos, the author’s credibility appears in being a father who tells his stories to his audience, whether new parents who still don’t have the same feeling of Barry or old parents who share the same feeling of the author. As for the pathos, he began with his 20-month-old daughter who demanded to hear her favorite song: “''Traditional Children's Songs From Hell.'' At least that's what I call it.” Mentioning the name of the song itself makes sense of how ridiculous it was. His introduction is full of emotionally-charged words and phrases that

create a sympathetic image by presenting his feeling of suffering clearly. For example, “It's one of those CDs with those old songs that we are required by federal law to expose our children to, because they connect us with a time when we were a simpler, happier, much stupider nation.” By stating his personal story, he made the reader feel sympathy for him and share the same feeling with the author.
Adding to his pathos appeals, Barry uses strong appeals to logos.

It is clearly noticed that he depends on humor by mentioning several examples of songs that most of people agree on their triviality. For instance, “Consider ''Old McDonald.'' It starts out fine: ''Old McDonald had a farm.'' But then it goes to ''E-I-E-I-O,''” Obviously, he began to ask some logical questions in a sarcastic style: “Couldn't he have come up with WORDS for the second line? How hard is it to think of a line that rhymes with ''farm''? For example: ''Thresher tore off his left arm.'' Or: "Slept with six goats to keep warm.''” Throughout his piece, Barry used many strong examples that strengthen his point of

view.
Barry mentioned that sometimes, when he is driving alone in his car, he plays these songs unintentionally as the songs stuck in his memory. After he realizes that his daughter is not with him, he plays his own songs, with intelligent lyrics! At this point, the reader can really share the same feeling with the author.
The middle part is the most effective part in the article, as the author continues to strengthen his position by stating precisely the major problem he encounters. Additionally, he is certain that his audience will, definitely, agree with him. The problem is that in order for his daughter to feel happy, he is required to do what the songs words represent, while driving! Certainly, this can make the police pull him over thinking that he is intoxicated. He told the reader the incident of the “teapot song” in details. The author uses this very persuasive example and supports his point with several words that highlight his suffering. For instance: “So if we're listening to ''I'm a Little Teapot,'' and she notices that I'm using my arms for some frivolous activity such as steering, she will repeat, ''Daddy do it! Daddy do it!'' until I let go of the wheel and form my teapot handle and my teapot spout.” The author is very smart; by stating this example in addition to another one of his daughter’s silly songs, he set the foundation to completely persuade the reader logically. If the reader puts himself in the author’s shoes, he can imagine that anyone driving beside him can misunderstand what he is doing, especially the police.
The author did not stick to the car incident, but he also mentioned a large plaster goose on the front porch in his neighborhood, which his daughter loves and insists that her father also kisses the goose as she did. Just imagine how you would feel if you were in the neighbor's place. Creating the police officer’s dialogue at the end of his article, the author’s conclusion was dramatic and, therefore, effective. In conclusion, despite the author’s suffering, he believes that being driven to distraction is a small price to pay for the joy of parenthood.