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Taaseen Chowdhury

Corri Ditch

Eng 115 Appr Univ Writing

December 9, 2020

Effective Use of Rhetoric

Happiness is a complex concept that many scholars study and try to define. Every scholar

takes their own approach to attempt and explain what Happiness is. The articles “The Source of

Happiness” by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler, “How Happy Are You and Why?” by Sonja

Lyubomirsky, and “Living with Less. A Lot Less” by Graham Hill, all attempt to provide their

own explanations and definitions as to what happiness is. They were all persuasive and had

different aspects of rhetorical strategies in their articles. However, the most persuasive article

was by the psychology professor from UC Riverside, Sonja Lyubomirsky. Lyubomirsky had the

most persuasive article because she, using pathos, gives examples of extreme cases that are

actually more common than examples from the other sources; using logos, provides her claims

through the intensive study of the state of mind of people and then provides logical reasoning as

to why those people think in a certain way; then using ethos, she backs up those claims with her

own credibility but also from external sources and historical figures.

When reading the article by the Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler there is an aura of

spirituality and religion which at first may seem beneficial but ultimately hinders the

effectiveness of persuasion The Dalai Lama himself is pretty much one of the holiest and

spiritual people alive, after all, he is the sole leader of the Tibetan Buddhists. Though the

argument can be made that this gives the Dalai Lama some extra credibility, there is another

factor to consider that hinders the Dalai Lama’s and Cutler’s article. In the article, the Dalai
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Lama references his religion, Buddhism. The reference is present when the Dalai Lama says, “In

Buddhism, for instance, there is a reference to the four factors of fulfillment, or happiness:

wealth, worldly satisfaction, spirituality, and enlightenment.” (Dalai Lama and Cutler, 18) This

idea of the 4 causes of happiness is rooted from Buddhist teachings. Not only that but the article

often goes out of its way to mention meditation and yoga, in which they even said that Yoga has

“roots in ancient Hinduism and Buddhism.”(Dalai Lama and Cutler, 29) That being said, this

shows that the article “The Sources of Happiness,” is too heavily based on spirituality and

religion. That aspect of the article can very much be the cause of its downfall in regards to

persuasiveness for many readers. Each reader is diverse and different from the next and so

though there probably is a fair portion of readers who are willing to believe the spiritual

connection to happiness, there still are possibly many more people who are unwilling to believe

in the religion of the Dalai Lama. There will be a vast majority of people who are from other

religions or could just simply be unaffiliated with the aspect of religion who will deny these

Buddhist ideals.

Next, for Graham Hill, although it can be seen as sad, it is simply just too rare and

personal of a story to be more effective than the other articles. In “Living with Less. A Lot

Less.” Graham Hill simply gives us his life story, how he had made millions from his small

startup tech company, and then how he met the love of his life. In regards to pathos, this article is

not as effective as Lyubomirsky’s article. Graham Hill lost his wealth due to his irresponsible

tendency to needlessly spend money instead of saving it. The severity of the examples in

Lyubomirsky’s article was much more emotionally impactful and effective to that of the loss in

Graham Hill’s life. An audience can also feel less empathy towards someone who was rich

because their jealousy towards Graham Hill’s once extravagant life will overshadow a lot of the
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possible empathy for him. There seems to be little to no ethos present in the article. Graham Hill

does not even provide in his article what tech company he had or what he was associated with.

There is an argument to be made that because Graham Hill once was rich and had personally

experienced it, makes it more credible. However, that is the case if we really get to know

Graham Hill, but many readers are still left with little to no background of Graham Hill which

then downplays the persuasiveness of his article. Graham Hill doesn’t provide any kind of

historical figures and his logical responses stem from his own experiences and they do not have

the backing of other external sources.

Lyubomirsky begins with a short introduction to the type of people she is trying to figure

out, people who seem to be unjustifiably happy, given their circumstances. It makes you think

back to the people that you have met in your life who are in similar situations as yourself but

instead seem to be relatively happy. This is an effective way to initially pull in her audience

because it is a form of pathos that appeals to the emotions related to one’s past with people who

seem unjustifiably happy and the frustration one feels due to their inefficient understanding of

these unjustifiably happy people. This train of thought is then smoothly transitioned into

Lyubomirsky’s introduction of Angela, Randy, and Shannon. According to their interviews,

Angela and Randy have had what is easily considered terrible pasts and despite all the misery in

their past, they claim to be very happy. We are then introduced to Shannon, who had a normal

upbringing that would be Lyubomirsky’s definition of the average person. Despite Shannon

having a much better and fun past in comparison to Angela and Randy, Shannon seems to be

more unhappy than Angela and Randy. Lyubomirsky uses pathos here when she tells us of the

tragic lives of Angela and Randy because it calls to the reader’s emotions when the reader tries

to empathize with Angela and Randy. This example is more effective than “Living with Less. A
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Lot Less,” the article by Graham Hill because Angela was “physically abused as a child… she

was overweight as a teenager and stigmatized at school… [and] diagnosed with breast cancer,”

(Lyubomirsky, 142) and as for Randy he, “lost two people close to him to suicide, at age twelve

his father and at age seventeen his best friend. His marriage was fraught with difficulty…

[leading to a divorce]” (Lyubomirsky, 143). Lyubomirsky’s article effectively illustrates and

explains her claims. In Lyubomirksy’s article, we see that she has solely based her article on her

scientific research and studies. Lyubomirksy shows us that happiness is a mixture of perspective

and state of mind, which is why happiness is so ambiguous. She uses the ambiguity to define the

subjectivity of happiness. She even provided an example, the “Subjective Happiness Scale”

(Lyubomirsky, 145) This scale is based and created on the logical data provided from the

multiple studies from Lyubomirsky’s interviewees and subjects. It is quite prevalently shown

that Lyubomirsky’s Article is based on data and factual research. She conducts her tests in a

controlled environment and records the behavioral data. She then connects her findings to her

explanation making them thoroughly comprehensive and logical for any reader despite their

religious, cultural, educational, and any other type of background. Lyubomirsky’s article is the

most satisfactory in the aspect of ethos because she is a graduate of Stanford University. In

Lyubomirsky’s article there are multiple traits that satisfy the rhetorical device, ethos. At the

very beginning of the article, there is a small background provided that informs us about who

Lyubomirsky is. We find out that Lyubomirsky is a professor of psychology at the University of

California Riverside. We also find out that she is originally a graduate from one of the most

prestigious Ivy League universities, Stanford University. The majority of people know of the

elite aura that is surrounded by Stanford University. Stanford University also has a history of

people who have provided many influential and/or impactful changes to the world or culture and
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the notorious amounts of success scholars from that school receive. Aside from the recognition

that Stanford University has and Lyubomirsky’s academic background, she does provide her

evidence through historical figures such as the famous and well known “Greek philosopher

Aristotle, to the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, etc.”(Lyubomirsky, 184) Overall

Lyubomirsky’s article is based on science and factual data which is ultimately hard to deny.

All the articles had their strengths and weaknesses. They all had different aspects that

were stronger than the other but then ultimately lacking in another aspect in the rhetorical

devices. The article written by Lyubomirsky was balanced in ethos, logos, and pathos; all three

parts of rhetoric. This ultimately made the article by Lyubomirsky the most effective.
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Works Cited

Hill, Graham. “Living With Less. A Lot Less.” Pursuing Happiness A Bedford Spotlight

Reader, edited by Craig Bartholomaus, et al., Bedford/St. Martin's; Second Edition,

(2019), pages 308-313

Lyubomirsky, Sonja. “How Happy Are You and Why?” Pursuing Happiness A Bedford

Spotlight Reader, edited by Craig Bartholomaus, et al., Bedford/St. Martin's; Second

Edition, (2019), 141-157

His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Cutler, Howard. “The Sources of Happiness.”

Pursuing Happiness A Bedford Spotlight Reader, edited by Craig Bartholomaus, et al.,

Bedford/St. Martin's; Second Edition, (2019), pages 21-33