Question

Read the excerpt from W.E.B. Dubois's "The Talented Tenth" and answer the question that follows.

And so we come to the present—a day of cowardice and vacillation, of strident wide-voiced wrong and faint-hearted compromise; of double-faced dallying with Truth and Right.

Which rhetorical appeal is present in this sentence?

Ethos, because Dubois lists the accomplishments that make him a credible speaker
Logos, because Dubois provides statistics on the numbers of people who believe in truth
Pathos, because Dubois uses emotionally charged words to describe his feelings on inequality
There is no rhetorical appeal present in this sentence

Answer 1

Pathos, because Dubois uses emotionally charged words to describe his feelings on inequality.

In this sentence, W.E.B. Dubois uses emotionally charged language such as "cowardice," "vacillation," "strident wide-voiced wrong," and "faint-hearted compromise" to express his disdain for the current state of society and to evoke an emotional response from the reader. This appeal to the emotions classifies the rhetorical appeal as Pathos.