Question

Which of these uses pathos?

Answer 1

The correct answer is:

A. Anderson soars through the air like Superman and catches the ball. Then he tosses it into the basket with the force of Hercules.

What is pathos, anyway?

Pathos (appeal to emotion) is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response to an impassioned plea or a convincing story.

Why is this answer pathos?!

Pathos is used to make people have emotion. So how does this answer connect to pathos? It uses some figurative language, and more importantly, after reading this, you have some mixed feelings. Anderson soars through the air like Superman. Take this. What do you think about that? How did Anderson get this ability? It must have took some while. And what about with the force of Hercules. Doesn't that give you some wondering? Is Anderson a superhero? Is Anderson a villain? Is Anderson magical? How did Anderson get these abilities? This is pathos, because it gives emotions to the audience and describes what happened clearly.

Answer 2

A: Anderson soars through the air like Superman and catches the ball. Then he tosses it into the basket with the force of Hercules.

Step-by-step explanation:

"Soars through the air like Superman" is one example of using pathos.

"...with the force of Hercules" is the second example of using pathos.

Pathos is a quality of an experience in life, or a work of art, that stirs up emotions. Pathos can be expressed through words, pictures, or even with gestures of the body.