Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Norman Cousins

Throughout history, there has been a consistent pattern of violence in sports. Boxing, wresting, and MMA are all example of fighting as a sport. Violence is also scattered into other sports such as football, ice hockey, and even soccer to some extent. In 1962, Norman Cousins wanted the public to distinguish the violence. He wrote an essay to inform everyone about the unacceptable risks associated with sports. He specifically wanted his audience to recognize that they were at fault for the death of Benny Paret.

Cousins wastes no time beginning his essay. He starts off by referencing an interview he had with Mr. Jacob’s many years before Paret’s death. To capture his audience Cousin describes how clearly Jacob’s speaks of prize-fighting.

This metaphor draws the audience into the essay as they will want to know what Jacobs will say. Similar to Napoleon, Jacobs will speak confidently, seriously, and concisely. As Napoleon’s, his words will be ones the audience wants to hear. When Cousins recounts Jacobs speech, he uses it in the same way Jacobs did. Cousins adds second person to direct the message to the audience. “You put killers in the ring”. This direct tone will force the audience to identify something they may not have before, which is that the public is cause for deadly fights.

After using a figure of authority, Cousins continues to sway his audience by forcing them to feel sympathy. He describes how Paret was “hit hard in the head several times” which is certainly graphic enough but to add to the vision he “was counted out, and never came out of the coma”. Placing this imagery after reprimanding the reader for putting

He wants his point to fully sink in. To complete his essay, Cousins returns to the image of a crowd and a fight. When Paret was killed, investigators searched for every reason to blame for his death. What they did not acknowledge was that he was killed by another human. Yet Cousins reminds the audience that “the time the crowd comes alive is when a man is hit hard over the heart or head” and they want to see this volatile ferocity and a knockout. The audience is the one that is at fault for Paret’s death. The readers wanted to witness violence in the ring, and Cousins is reminding them that they are not innocent. He wants them not to “blame it on the referee” or even the “fight managers”. By bringing up these other potential scapegoats for the audience, Cousins eliminates their opportunity to place the responsibility where it does not go and instead turns it “where is belongs”. When Cousins ends his essay in this way, he leaves the reader with a sense of culpability. No one wants to feel responsible for the death of another. By this point Cousins has repeated his purpose over and over in various ways that it will stick with the