Read this excerpt from Common Sense:Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, forGod's sake, let us come to a final separation
, andnot leave the next generation to be cuttingthroats, under the violated unmeaning names ofparent and child.Which is the most prominent kind of rhetorical appeal Thomas Paine uses here?
The rhetorical appeal that Paine most clearly uses here is that of pathos. Pathos is the name given to an appeal to emotion. In this passage, Paine tells us that nothing seems to be effective when trying to solve the problems between the colonists and England except for fighting. He argues that if that is indeed the case, then they should go ahead, instead of delaying the necessary process. He appeals to emotion by talking about "blows," "cutting throats" and the "violated unmeaning names of parent and child."
