Rhetorical Analysis Of Doing Nothing Is Something

In the essay “Doing Nothing Is Something”, author Anna Quindlen uses the rhetorical strategies Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to encourage children today to spend more time doing nothing. Quindlen believes children in America are overscheduled and never have time to explore their creativity that presents itself while the mind is idle. Parents, being the target audience of this essay, should allow their child downtime to explore their mind and creativity.
Ethos is used by an author to establish credibility to support an argument. Quindlen establishes her credibility by showing that she is either a mother or a teacher. Although not clear of which she is implying, she states “…in the textbooks on my children’s desks” (89). This can insinuate she has children of her own or teaches children, which validates her opinion regarding overscheduled children in America. Quindlen also shares that she is a writer which can be contributed to the free time she had as a child. “How boring it was…It

Quindlen uses research from credible sources to support her argument. For example, she quotes “A study by the University of Michigan quantified the downtime deficit; in the last twenty years American kids have lost about four unstructured hours a week” (90). This information confirms that throughout the past few decades, children are overscheduled and not partaking in free time. Quindlen also states that “there is also ample psychological research suggesting that what we might call “doing nothing: is when human beings actually do their best thinking, and when creativity comes to call” (90). By providing this information, Quindlen supports her belief that children need time to detach themselves from their scheduled lives and play outside to improve their creative capabilities. The information provided in this essay is evidence that children are more artistically inspired when more time is spent “doing