The Ethos Of Writing: Impactful Activity

Hongli Zhu Tutor Writing 39A 10 May 2018 The Ethos of Writing Writing is without doubt one of the most impactful activities that anyone can engage in. This is purposely because it provides an outlet or a channel of sorts that allows one to communicate their true being, the essence of their character, and the part of themselves that is quite difficult to clearly articulate in words. It is a magical process that tells individual stories in uniquely characteristic ways that reflect the persona of the writer. Insofar as the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa and Nick Rowlands are concerned, writing is a process through which authors engage their audience while conveying their thoughts, ideas, or ethos on a particular issue. This is accurately represented in the two texts written by both authors, and also in how they choose to approach their rhetorical questions. This difference in approach and diversity in writing ethos greatly affects how both authors communicate through their writing, and more importantly how they engage and interact with readers. It is these subtle differences that make both authors greatly effective at conveying their ethos in both inspiring and artistic ways. Insofar as both authors are concerned, establishing strong relationships with readers is a critical part of producing an engaging and interactive essay through which one can adequately convey their ethos. In this case, the ethos in question is that of writing, and why both authors feel that they must write in particular ways in order to annunciate, devoid of direct declarations, their ethos with respect to writing. They leverage this approach to develop a narrative that allows readers to resonate with their most intimate thoughts regarding writing and what it represents to them. In the case of Anzaldúa, writing allows her to engage her audience in ways that promote individual and collective pride in her Chicano heritage. Her pride and appreciation of the heritage she shares with many other Chicanos is part of the driving force behind her inclusion of Spanish as a core part of the text. By mixing in both Spanish and English, Anzaldúa manages to convey the fact that writing is a means of expression, and one that people should use to not only communicate important issues (such as the maintenance of culture and language) but also to reiterate core values. This position is also explored by Rowlands. In his article, he manages to clearly articulate the importance of writing in telling personal and important stories and particular in a voice that is uniquely one’s own. To achieve this, Rowlands does not take Anzaldúa’s approach and instead chooses to bring readers along as he recounts his long adventure with writing. This is an extremely powerful approach because it manages to not only underscore his ethos with regards to writing but also reiterates why having a unique and personal approach towards writing is vital to creating pieces that readers find engaging and thought-provoking. Insofar as both authors are concerned, their approaches are distinctively their own because they understand the importance of having a personal voice in every narrative. Anzaldúa chooses to mix Spanish and English, just as normal Chicanos would in conversation, while Rowlands chooses to recount his experiences with writing much like he would recount a journey (which he has vast experience in as a travel writer). Upon closer inspection of these two articles and how they were written, it is quite clear that they both convey the true ethos of the writers. Rowland’s ethos of writing reiterates the significance of internal introspection in the writing process. He chooses to rely on the introspection and assessment of his experiences, emotions, and conversations to guide his writing approach and content. This kind of ethos results in honest, unfiltered, and e...