ENG 101 A: Rhetorical Analysis Activity based on Their Eves Were Watching God Chapters 11-14
Directions: Read the following passages from Their Eves and analyze how the passages include one or
more of the 3 rhetorical appeals: Ethos (the ethical appeal-building character); Pathos (the emotional
appeal arousing emotions from the audience); and/or Logos (the logical appeal through reason and
evidence). Annotate for the rhetorical appeals and related devices on the margins.
PASSAGE 1 (spoken by the narrator, page 108, chapter 11):
"In the cool of the afternoon, the fiend from hell specially sent to lovers arrived at Janie's ear.
Doubt. All the fears that circumstances could provide and the heart feel, attacked her on every side.
This was a new sensation for her, but no less excruciating. If only Tea Cake would make her certain!
He could not return that night nor the next and so she plunged into the abyss and descended to the ninth
darkness where light has never been before.
"But the fourth day after he came in the afternoon driving a battered car. Jumped out like a deer and
made the gesture of tying it to a post on the store porch. Ready with his grin! She adored him and hated
him at the same time. How could he make her suffer so and then come grinning like that with that
darling way he had? He pinched her arm as he walked inside the door."
Examples of ETHOS:
Examples of PATHOS:
Examples of LOGOS:
1
ch.
What might be the narrator's (direct or implied) claim regarding Janie and Tea Cake's relationship?
the narrator is claiming
What might be Hurston's universal claim based on this passage? Consider a theme topic she might be
focusing on based on this passage, such as gender roles, double consciousness, or ambition).

In just over one hundred years, between 1701 and 1810, 252,500 enslaved africans were brought to barbados—an island that occupies only 166 square miles (making it, today, one of the smallest countries in the world). the english then set out to conquer more sugar islands, starting with jamaica, which they took from spain in 1655. in the same period that the 252,500 africans were brought to barbados, 662,400 africans were taken to jamaica. thus, sugar drove more than 900,000 people into slavery, across the atlantic, to barbados and jamaica—and these were just two of the sugar islands. the english were eagerly filling antigua, nevis, saint kitts, and montserrat with slaves and sugar mills. they took over much of dutch guiana for the same reason. seeing the fortunes being made in sugar, the french started their own scramble to turn the half of the island of hispaniola that they controlled (which is now haiti), as well as martinique, guadeloupe, and french guiana (along the south american coast near dutch guiana), into their own sugar colonies, which were filled with hundreds of thousands more african slaves. by 1753, british ships were taking average of 34,250 slaves from africa every year, and by 1768, that number had reached 53,100. –sugar changed the world, marc aronson and marina budhos how do the authors use historical evidence to support their claim? x(a) they use secondary sources to show how french and english monarchs were indifferent to enslaved people. x(b)they use secondary sources to show that enslaved people often fought for their freedom after arriving in the caribbean. the answer is: (c)they use facts from primary sources to show how countries increased the number of enslaved people to produce more sugar. x(d)they use primary source interviews to show that countries could make more money in trading sugar without using enslaved people.