Analyzing an Argumentative Essay

Alejandra Galindo’s argumentative essay titled "The Use of Landmines"made a very strong argument against the use of this tactic in warfare, and urged the United States to sign the Mine Ban Treaty immediately. She also suggested for the United States to “put pressure on other countries” to do the same. In this compelling and passionate essay, the writer artfully used pathos as she gave many facts and data about the number of casualties and loss of limbs not only in soldiers, but also in civilians, children, and animals. She also included another great example of the use of pathos when she gave a detailed description of how lethal and maiming mines can be, not only in the present but also far into the future. Once these land mines have been set, normal everyday life turns into “fear that a family member may be killed or injured”. The writer creates in the reader such a feeling of sorrow and sadness for the people who have to live in fear and danger every day. Her use of ethos gave her paper a very credible argument as she quoted many authorities on the subject of land mines, such as, Mary Wareham, a senior advocate for human rights and Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for making the Mine Ban Treaty a reality. She also quoted James P. Grant, Executive Director of UNICEF, where he explains in his book how detrimental to society these land mines can be. The accomplishments and positions of the above individuals create a strong sense of ethos as the reader becomes deeply involved in the argument. In order to strengthen her case, she used logos throughout her paper as she quoted multiple facts and statistics to drive her point home to her audience. A strong example of this includes the following statistic used by Galindo, “33% of US casualties during the Vietnam War, and 34% during the Gulf War were caused by land mines”. The outside sources used in the essay were extremely credible because they were experts who were very knowledgeable in their field. I feel this essay was well written and strongly supported the argument.