Maya Hale Emily Chappell Rhetoric and Composition I 03 November 2024 The Serial Podcast: A Rhetorical Analysis of How Sarah Koenig Uses Rhetorical Techniques to Create a Persuasive Message A trial based on the high school gossip surrounding the murder of student Hae Min Lee, with her boyfriend at the center. At only 18 years old, Adnan Syed was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his high school girlfriend, with no physical evidence proving his guilt. Outsider Sarah Koenig revisits the case years later, attempting to piece together a narrative based on the evidence she is given and what new evidence she can find. Throughout the Serial podcast, Sarah uses ethos, logos, pathos, and kairos as methods of analyzing the case. Her usage …show more content…
The key parts of the episodes are how both the prosecution and defense relied on witness testimony to prove their perspective and how Adnan being Muslim affected his investigation. Aptly, Sarah comes back to Jay, discussing how his testimony implicates him as guilty and if his confession can be seen as credible. Season one ends with a recap summing up all that has been talked about throughout the episodes. Sarah uses multiple techniques of rhetorical analysis throughout Season One, one of those techniques being kairos. Kairos looks at the timing of an argument and how the time’s context affects the message being shared through the piece of rhetoric. The podcast opens with Episode 1, “The Alibi,” explaining how the narrator, Sarah, became involved with the case. Sarah originally began to look at the case when her friend, Rabia Chaudry, reached out, believing that Adnan was innocent. Sarah, interested in the lack of evidence supporting his guilty sentence, created the podcast to investigate in-depth what had happened and what evidence there was to support