Rhetorical Analysis on The Death of Honesty by William Damon.

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Rhetorical Analysis of Death of Honesty
Honesty is a virtue we all must possess but once in a while we have had to prove this virtue in our lives since telling the truth is not always easy and it can be followed by dire consequences. In his work, Death of Honesty, William Damon CITATION Wil12 \l 1033 (Damon) explores this virtue by writing its important, when it is justifiable to lie but emphasizes that losing honesty comes with costly repercussions. Honesty is imperative for all dealings to remain civilized. Any human relationship is founded on confidence borne from telling the truth always, which when failed, relationships can be broken beyond repair. In as much as for different life priorities we occasionally need to be dishonest, the society has all the same failed to observe honesty at the expense of democracy and the bond of trust that uphold societies.
To lay his goal and motive clearly to his readers-young and adult, Damon appeals to his audience by using classical rhetorical devices; pathos, logos and ethos to make his argument clear. He appeals to the readers’ emotions and provides facts and evidences to support his argument on the ethical value of honesty. This essay examines how the author uses the rhetorical devices to persuade his audience on the importance of honesty in the basic human relationships, in school, business and in the political world CITATION Wil12 \l 1033 (Damon).
Holding fast on honesty is important for the functioning of all aspects of human lives, Damon makes an ethos CITATION Rhe19 \l 1033 (Rhetorical Analysis) appeal to his audience by exploring how observing honesty has led to a lot of good and failing to observe has led to otherwise and he quotes information from credible sources thus proving his mass knowledge on the matter. His knowledge on dishonesty stems from education system, religion and even past cultures and religious sources. According to Damon the moral fabric of a society is dependent upon the first two decades of each person and says that if young people are taught to be honest in those younger years, it will be hard for them to deviate even when they reform their characters.
He focuses on cheating in school and accentuates that honesty is linked to academic integrity and schools have long absconded the duty of instilling honesty in students. He supports his argument by quoting data from a cheating scandal in schools in Georgia in 2011 where cheating was found to be systematic and organized. He doesn’t leave the politicians out as well.
Damon echoes the sentiment of George Orwell that the language of politicians serves no other purpose but to misrepresent and hide whereby murder is respected and lies are made to appear truth. Citizens keep up with news and daily information to prove the words of politicians right. However, even in these journalism sources, facts are usually coined and information is usually biased. All these he contends that the human race has become very dysfunctional and lost all ability and inherent intent to tell the truth CITATION Wil12 \l 1033 (Damon). Damon makes a strong logos case by providing factual cases and statistics to support his argument.
The other rhetorical device...