Written by Robyn Eggs

for Portland Community College

A Rhetorical Analysis

Heather Faraid Drennan’s article, entitled “Mouse in the House? Congratulations!” was posted on PETA’s website under The PETA Files on October 7, 2011.

An argument is made for sharing your home with mice

inside the article and it is on account of several facts that the reader is lead to believe mice are a lot like humans. Heather’s argument is structured for an audience that is already sympathetic towards animals and who would find her article appealing. She also tells the reader that, after reading her article, they might at least give mice a little more respect. Heather uses pathos, ethos, and logos to define an argument that mice should be allowed inside the reader’s home.

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The article entices the reader’s interests with its title

by implying that mice in the home may be a good thing. When the author begins by saying, “As the nights get chilly, the thought of passing the evenings with friends and family in a nice, warm house sounds delightful…” she makes the reader feel guilty by informing them that mice like to do the same thing. A large picture dominates the article showing a mouse inside of a tiny pink drawer with flowers on it. In this way the author pulls on our heartstrings as if to ask how can the reader put mice out into the cold of winter? She then goes on to say that the following facts are “fascinating mouse tidbits” which again encourages the reader to keep mice in their home. The author defines for the reader a possible new relationship with mice and the reader now looks forward to what she has to say in the mice’s favor.

Heather tests the reader’s ethics when she asks them,

“If—despite their charm—you still don’t care to share your home with mice, the best way to keep them out of your humble abode is to prevent them from getting inside in the first place.” This argument is logical yet it also tests the reader’s ethics by implying that once mice have made their home inside a house it is inhuman to throw them out. As a sympathetic audience, the reader might start by upholding themselves to the author’s standards. In her definition of those standards, Heather says the reader should have more respect for the mice in their homes and that they should do that by ethically dealing with them using humane mouse traps and setting them free outdoors. She strongly states to “never use cruel glue traps”, which implies a lack of respect towards mice.

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Heather logically proposes that if you do not want mice in

to use preventative measures to keep them out, naturally. If the reader was to perform preventive maintenance on their house there would be no need for glue traps in the first place. When she shapes the main body of the argument, she lists four factual reasons for sharing one’s home with mice. They include the fact that male mice compose songs for courtship and that they stay for the birth and initial cleaning of the babies. And also she lists that mice are smart and keep separate areas for eating and excrement. These facts make the reader feel that mice are very similar to humans and that they therefore must be treated like them. Another logical argument Heather makes is to keep food in containers and to clean up after food spills. The reader should already be doing these things because if they are not then, logically, they will have mice in their house.

While the author’s factual reasons

may or may not sway the reader to allow mice in the home, she is willing to accept that they have read what she has to say. The argument Heather poses is persuasive and appeals to the reader’s pathos, ethos, and logos. As an audience who most likely supports PETA the readers will most likely allow mice to stay in their home if only to uphold themselves to the standards she has laid out for them because, in order to be supported by PETA, Heather must have good ethics and, therefore, the reader will have good ethics too if they follow her lead.

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Reference:

http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2011/10/07/why-mouseguests-deserve-respect.aspx#comments

Moral of the Story...

Always question the source....

Thank you for reading! :-)

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*This block is the sole property of Robyn Eggs. The photos have been credited to their original sources. The writing in this block is not for reproduction or republication. Please tell me what you think. Share and re-steem with your friends and neighbors on social media. Copyright 2017.

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