Columbus Response

In order for an author to construct any type of literary work, they must decide how they will get their main idea across. In the case, of the writer, of the Christopher Columbus story, the author chose both pathos and logos. With the combination of both pathos and logos, the author was able to certainly convince the audience that Columbus had to go through long and stressful experiences in his lifetime. Without the use of pathos and logos, the author would not have successfully got their main idea across to the audience.
When the author wrote this story, the author wanted the audience to feel sympathy and respect for Christopher Columbus. Since the author wrote, “ he was forced to return to Spain to clear his name of politically motivated charges made against him by other Europeans in the Indies,” (Paragraph 1) he was trying to have the audience see how Christopher Columbus was being falsely persecuted. If the audience were to then believe that Christopher Columbus was truly being wrongly accused, then the audience would begin to sympathize for Christopher Columbus. Once Christopher Columbus returned, from his third voyage, to Hispaniola, he “ soon found himself under arrest, sent in chains to Spain in 1500 to answer yet more charges,” (Paragraph 1). When the author described how Christopher Columbus was charged with more crimes, he had definitely persuaded the audience into understanding why the author thought Christopher Columbus had gone through difficult situations. “ His last voyage, intended to recoup his tarnished reputation, resulted in a long period of suffering in Panama and shipwreck in Jamaica, and these outer woes were accompanied by nearly delusional periods,” (Paragraph 1). By dramatically stating how Christopher Columbus had to experience many horrible and stress- educing situations, the author used descriptive reasoning for believing in his main idea. Even though the author’s use of pathos would have sufficiently proved the main idea, logos only amplified the process’s efficiency for convincing the audience into accepting the author’s main idea.
Logos helped the author by providing information to back up the credibility of the story. Throughout the story, many dates were placed in the text. Since the dates were written in chronological order, the audience would be able to put an event with an exact date. The audience would be able to create a mental picture of what happened, in history, but when it occurred as well. “ The supposed Journal of his first voyage is actually a summary prepared by the cleric and reformer Bartolomé de los Casas,” (Paragraph 2). By giving a definition for the object the author was writing about; the author was ensuring that the audience would completely comprehend the object’s meaning and significance. If the author did not provide a definition for the word “Journal”, then there could have been a possibility that the audience may have become confused. The author not only used facts but documents to support the main idea. With these documents, there is hard and credible proof to support the author’s main idea. Since the author used logos to support the application of pathos, the main idea had both logic and an emotional appeal to aid in convincing the audience to accept the main idea as true.
Without the use of pathos and logos, the author would not have successfully got their main idea across to the audience. Both forms of writing techniques help the author to appeal to his audience more sufficiently and cleverly. The author not only persuades the trustworthiness of the main idea onto the audience through emotions but also, through logic.