Summary Of Days Of Obligation By Richard Rodriguez

656 Words3 Pages

In the introduction to Days of Obligation by Richard Rodriguez, Rodriguez encaptures the differences of societies within the nation of Mexico and state of California, both of which he is familiar with. Rodriguez informs the readers through different stylistic devices on the tragic society that is Mexico and comedy of California. Its is targeted to general audience as he simply contemplates the differences between comedy and tragedy which he talks about as if to an outsider looking in. All in all, Richard Rodriguez attempts to convey the wisdom of both comedic and tragic societies and just how different they are. Rodriguez throughout out the introduction states differences in culture and identity within the two different societies. But first …show more content…

He primarily uses ethos appeal as his characteristic assumption of societies are present throughout most of the introduction. During this phase, Rodriguez 's tone throughout the introduction seems simply confused on how California can be land of so much “protestant optimism” and opportunity but still being home to such attributes of a tragic society and vice versa for Mexico. Rodriguez also uses pathos appeal as opposed to how most of the article seems rather ethos based. He uses this when comparing his youth to his childhood, “ The youth of my life was defined by Protestant optimism. Now that I am middle-aged, I incline more toward the Mexican point of view, though some part of me continues to resist the cynical conclusions of Mexico.” The use of pathos helps of connect ot the other on an emotional level to just how conflicted he is feeling. He emphasizes these feelings through usage of synthetic personalization, such as when he stated how the people in this societies interact in these society which was referenced previously. Also through evidence of personal conflict on how he will address these matters and decide which societal wisdom should be first reviewed, “How shall I present argument between comedy and tragedy, this tension that describes my life? Shall I start with the boy’s chapter, then move toward more ‘mature’ tragic conclusions? But that would underplay the boy’s wisdom. The middle-aged