Thompson 1 Alexandra Thompson Luann Henken ENC 1102 30 November 2010 We Will Go Forward September 11, 2001, the

day the Twin Towers were attacked by terrorists, was one of the most pivotal events in American history; the events that occurred on this day were watched worldwide. As a response there were plenty of Americans who became a voice of the unheard in the sea of devastated people. Leonard Pitts Jr. was one of these people. In his column entitled Well Go Forward from this Moment, Pitts becomes the voice of enraged American citizen by sending a message to the unexpected disturbers of their peace. A warning from one of the many angry Americans, this piece informs the terrorists that there will be retribution for the heinous acts performed on the now strengthened USA. Americans affected by the events that took place this day gained appreciation and courage from Pitts articulation of the true feelings of most Americans; rage, anger, sadness, hate, and justified resentfulness, all of which were emotions experienced. Thus, through his use of ethos, logos, and plenty of pathos, which gave him the foundation that made his writing complete and effective, Pitts successfully wrote a piece that captured the attention of all of its readers, stirred their emotions, and created a response. A writers first step towards creating an effective piece is establishing ethos, or credibility, with his audience. Any person with access to Google can research, Leonard Pitts Jr. and find that he is a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Miami Herald. Pitts does not provide his audience with this information. However, he did acknowledge that he had the right to write this piece by informing them that to write is a part of his career. Pitts starts off with the statement: Its my job to have something to say. He continues to say: They pay me to provide

Thompson 2 words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. This lets us know that he has been bestowed with an obligation to write an analysis to help us understand what is going on in our world. Thus, he had no option but to write about the event that had just struck American and taken everyone aback. In the article, Pitts somewhat loses the quality of professionalism which would have normally worked to give his words character and importance because of the tone of anger and hatred. Statements such as You unspeakable Bastard can be seen as amateur and improper by conservative readers. However, because of the emotions that were brought out of each American because of this even, this worked to his advantage. Professionalism wasnt needed because in times of crisis who really is able to stay professional? Pitts also used the term we and us, which showed that just like his audience, he was experiencing this tragedy, adding to his credibility to speak on it. Thus, Pitts was able to accomplish effectiveness through ethos by relating to his audience. The authors message should be full of logic, or logos. One convincing claim to evidence the author used was referring to the attack that Japan carried out on America: This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow. By mentioning this event, the writer establishes support for his claim that there will be hell to pay just as the Japanese learned after their attack on Pearl Harbor. This was strong support. Because Pitts wrote this article as a commentary, there was no need for a solution to be unveiled. By Pitts alluding to the attackers receiving the same lesson as Japan, he effectively provides an example of how the attack would be resolved without giving the solution. The last two sentences in his article are, You dont know what you just started. But youre about to learn. This bold statement goes to show that there was going to be action taken.

Thompson 3 An authors final job is to connect to his audience. Leonard Pitts Jr.s main approach to making his article effective was the use of pathos. According to the Purdue Online Writing Lab, a writer should only use an emotional appeal if it truly supports the claim they are making, not as a way to distract from the real issues. As stated it the article, An argument should never use emotion to misrepresent the topic or frighten people (Weida and Stolley). Though there was a threating tone that spans the entire text, the emotion was to be decided on by the reader. Pitts article was written in the form of an open letter; thus, the only readers that would be frightened by his tone would be the ones responsible for the attack. For example, in his article he says, Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause. Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve. Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together These statements arent directed towards the American people who read this article but the terrorist who attacked the nation. However, they still stir emotions into the readers in this piece to be united. Pitts successfully grasped Americans through their new emotion of sadness and pride and the many other feelings from sharing the experience. His article was addressed to an event that affected millions of people. The writer was extremely biased on behalf of his nation. He gives no possible justifications for the actions of the attackers. Pitts only offers opinions of what has occurred. This was appropriate because as he stated at the beginning of his article, it was his job to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul, not the souls of Americans and the terrorist. Thus, he effectively captured the emotions of his targeted audience. The September 11 column "We'll Go Forward from This Moment," got an overwhelming response, 30,000 emails (Conan). This goes to show that it was accepted by many readers. The overall message the can be found by this article was that America would go forward.This heart-

Thompson 4 felt response from an angry victim was overall A phenomenal piece of writing, Pitts Well Go Forward from This Moment was effective . From reading this piece the audience gains a confidence that we will go forward.

Thompson 5 Works Cited

Conan, Neal. nrp.org 31 August 2009.Web. 13 September 2010 Pitts Jr., Leonard. Miami Herald. 12 September 2001.Web. 6 September 2010 Weida, Stacy and Karl Stolley. The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2010. Web. 13 September 2010