Rhetoric Analysis

Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier by JESSICA GROSE

Discriminatory distribution of work among man and women in house hold cleaning activities,

while women are contributing their time to economy as men are. The author Jessica Grose in

March 19, 2013 published his article on the topic, which was published in New Republic. She

describes the situation through reputable sources, statistics and she also get help through

emotional appeals to make her article more credible. She does perfectly in the start, but she fails

to do at the end which make the article unimpressive.

She develops the stage by preparing the scenario that, after a hurricane sandy, she discloses the

unfair distribution of work among husband and wife for cleaning activities, responsibility of

which falls on the women instead of equal distribution of husband and wife. She describes that

the media play a vital role in this type of social disorder, which encourages that men have to

contribute towards child caring and cooking activities but not for cleaning issue, which is clearly

a women’s issue, which she doesn’t like. So, she provides the solution for this issue by a chart of

distribution of work among house residents bases on ability and skills and acceptance towards

nasty jobs of cleaning by men and she also provides that the work should be more enjoyable and

having fun by use of machines.

In her article, to develop credibility of her piece, she uses reputable and acceptable sources that

provides storng appeals to ethos. She includes the studies of sociologist “Judith Treas and Tusi of

Tai. Furthermore, she citied the sources of Krehbiel Matthew, Brand Manager in P&G North

America Fabric Care Brand Manager. Through these sources it is evident that she enhances the
credibility of his article by using statistics and facts. Furthermore, she also describes her

experiences of his life to support the cause, which shows a personal sentiments in going through

the situation personally.

Grose excellently makes appeals to pathos in middle and start of the article, in which she uses

her personal experience, she used words, “she was eight months pregnant and her husband

fought with a pregnant person” lefts a very sympathetic impression on the minds of the reader.

She make use of negative words in her article to achieve the sympathetic opinion of the reader ,”

sucks, judged, headachy, instead.” These words last an impression of pity for Grose in cleaning

of house while she was pregnant and also, she was being judged for her activities.

In addition to pathos, Grose makes good use of logos in her piece of article. For logical

reasonableness of her ideas she provides numerous facts and statistics on the matter. She uses the

facts about her marriage and distribution of work. “My husband and I both work. We split

midnight baby feedings ...but ... he will admit that he’s never cleaned the bathroom, that I do the

dishes nine times out of ten, and that he barely knows how the washer and dryer work in the

apartment we’ve lived in for over eight months.”.” These kind of statements supports her logos,

as well she uses various statistics on the matter as like 55% of mothers are full employed of

America do housework on average day comparing to men only 18% does that.

Grose is well versed with audience of her article, so she makes a good use of pathos, ethos and

logs in her article to achieve attention of her audience. She expresses that women are not inferior

human beings to do only the household work. Society must realize the power, abilities and skills

of women, hence these can be proved by coherence among her strengths and responsibilities. In

begging of the article same was developed by Grose, but afterwards she fails to maintain on the

subject matter and her attention was diverted to distribution of chores of household.
However, the end of the article lacks the same level of effectiveness in the appeals to ethos. For

example, Grose notes that when men do housework, they are considered to be “’enacting “small

instances of gender heroism,” or ‘SIGH’s’—which, barf.” The usage of the word “barf” is jarring

to the reader; unprofessional and immature, it is a shift from the researched, intelligent voice she

has established and the reader is less likely to take the author seriously. This damages the

strength of her credibility and her argument. It was evident from her writing that she didn’t have

a good marriage, but she didn’t conclude the matter in effective way. As she explains the issues

in her marriage life and distribution of the work, but at the end her shift from the main point risks

the readers attention.

Although, Grose has made good use of ethical, emotional and logical appeals in her article, but at

last she fails to achieve the goal as she was diverted from the motive.

Works Cited Grose, Jessica. “Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier.” New Republic. The New

Republic, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.