In order to effectively analyze this song's appeal to logos, I believe it is vital to focus only on the lyrical content, and to not take into consideration Dudley's tone and emotion. In the first lines of the song, Dudley addresses his mother, explaining to her that he "received [her] letter," and that he was just allowed "time to write." As evident from these lines, Dudley is a soldier in a "foreign land" (Vietnam) responding to his mother's concerns regarding the purpose of the war. His mother points out that there are "people marching in [the] streets" who are protesting for peace and claiming that the war must be ended. Dudley dismisses these claims, though, making the argument that the United States must always fight to defend "[their] shores." He states that there is not a single soldier in Vietnam "who likes [the] war," but that Americans have a duty to fight for their country and protect its integrity. Furthermore, Dudley asks his mother if the protesters at home had "[forgotten] Pearl Harbor and Korea," suggesting that they have an obligation to fight back after all the conflict of the past years. In sum, fighting the Vietnam War is about making a statement. Dudley strongly believes that the "world must learn" that the United States will not hold back in the face of aggression; they must set a precedent, regardless of the peace protests back at home.
Agustin Aguerre
It seems like you may have just summarized the lyrics instead of dissecting Dudley's use of logos. Since an appeal to logos is an appeal to the logic or reasoning in the audience, I think it's important that you discuss the audience and how Dudley expected or intended them to respond to his lyrics. Explain why and how these lyrics lead the audience to believe that Dudley's message is logical.
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DeleteMadi, you make a good point.
DeleteI shall go back and tweak my post up.
Thanks for the input!
Agustin Aguerre
I agree with Madi's comment that this post is just summarizing. The beginning of this post seems to describe kairos more than logos. I think that the part where the soldier says that no one wants to fight a war but that it's important to remember why you're fighting is an appeal to logos. With some tweaking this would be a good post.
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