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Ema Condori-Teves

Ms. Rogers

Writing 2010

5 February 2018

Rhetorical Analysis of Blue Collar Brilliance

Many assumptions have been made about blue collar workers regarding their cognitive

skills as well as the physical aspect of their work. Those aspects are often overlooked or

disregarded as less developed or not there at all when comparing them to white collar workers.

These often overlooked characteristics are actually rather developed and very much present in

blue collar workers. Writers often communicate their stance/opinion through a variety of

rhetorical devices. The author of the article “Blue Collar Brilliance”, Mike Rose, discusses his

opinion on this matter through his personal experiences, research, and education background.

Using pathos, ethos, and logos, he convinces the readers of his views on blue collar workers and

the misconceptions often made about intelligence, work, and social class.

Pathos was used in this essay when the author is describing his family’s educational

background and the hardships his parents went through. He did this by describing why his

mother had to drop out of high school; “My mother quit school in the seventh grade to help raise

her brothers and sisters” (Rose). This most definitely makes the readers feel sympathetic towards

that difficult decision his mother had to make to take care of her family over completing her

education. The author also mentioned his father’s education when he mentioned that his “father

finished a grade or two in primary school in Italy and never darkened the schoolhouse door

again” (Rose). With education being the doorway to white collar work, it makes the readers
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sympathize with that difficult situation and the author also opens up to the readers about the

situation of his family with allows the readers to feel an emotional connection.

The author also chooses to introduce the topic of his article through pathos, he does this

by telling of his personal experiences. He creates multiple images for the readers through his

descriptive writing, doing so, providing plenty of visuals for the readers. The use of pathos could

be seen in the very first sentence, when he introduced his mother as the waitress/blue collar

worker, and was followed by a more personal image of his family, “my father and I would

occasionally hang out at the restaurant until her shift ended, and then we’d ride the bus home

with her” (Rose). This was important in displaying pathos because most people have experience

either as a blue collar worker, or family and friends who are, and it creates a sense of personal

connection as readers relates their personal experiences to his. This was important in not only

introducing the topic, but by using pathos in this subtle form, the author was able to create a

personal connection with the readers and the readers were also able to sympathize with his

experiences, as well as connecting to their own creating a nostalgic feeling from their own

personal experiences.

Ethos could also be seen in the same example as above. The author has both a personal

connection with both the blue collar working field through his mother; “My mother, Rose

Meraglio Rose (Rosie), shaped her adult identity as a waitress in coffee shops and family

restaurants” as well as the white collar field through his own experience; “Then I went back to

graduate school to study education and cognitive psychology and eventually became a faculty

member in a school of education” (Rose). The author created credibility for himself by

mentioning his connection to blue collar workers through his past and family, and also has the

educated perspective through his experience of graduating in school with a degree. This is worth
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mentioning because the readers can see that he has a connection to both types of workers and this

gives the readers proof that we he has experience in both fields and has seen first-hand what each

type of worker experiences.

The author had a sense of authority throughout the essay, he created this authority in

many ways such as the tone, but mainly by building up his personal credibility and pointing out

his own status. The author mentioned in the essay his educational path and his choice of study in

college: “I studied the humanities and later the social and psychological sciences and taught for

10 years in a range of situations…Then I went back to graduate school to study education and

cognitive psychology” (Rose). This was important to note because his area of study is the topic

that is heavily influenced in his article. Not only did he build up his credibility through his

educational degree, but also through the amount of years he has spent working closely with the

topic at hand, by stating both of these facts about him, it makes it evident to the audience that he

knows a lot about the topic reflected across the article. This form of ethos was effective because

his own educational background gave the readers confidence in what he is discussing, and this

helped strengthen his argument.

One way the author used logos in his article was by claiming a statement and giving

examples for his claim. One instance where he did this was by stating “Though many kinds of

physical work don’t require a high literacy level, more reading occurs in the blue-collar

workplace than is generally thought” (Rose), and he followed this claim by listing out many

forms of literacy that occurs in a blue-collar workplace. The author further supported his claim,

still using logos as his rhetorical tool, by claiming “true, many uses of writing are abbreviated,

routine, and repetitive, and they infrequently require interpretation or analysis. But analytic

moments can be part of routine activities, and seemingly basic reading and writing can be
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cognitively rich” (Rose). He gave the readers his opinion on the topic at hand, then provided

examples to back up that claim, and he then continued by clearly restating his claim on literacy

in the blue-collar workplace; this allows the readers to see his claim and draw their own

conclusions based on the examples and evidence he provided.

The author uses this same form of ethos is another claim he makes regarding intelligence

and education. He claims; “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education…and most

people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling

requires less intelligence” he follows up by providing the history of where this misconception

leads back to and gives examples of how this misconception is played out in the modern world.

He then provides the readers with a story that proves this common assumption wrong, and this

provides the readers with a good example of how logos was used in his article because he made

his claim and gave plenty of evidence and facts to back it up.

In the article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose, his uses of pathos, ethos, and logos

were effective in allowing the readers to take their own stance on the topic. The author’s use of

pathos allowed the readers to make a more personal connection right from the beginning and

allowed the readers to sympathize with him. The author’s use of ethos was very strong, not only

did he build his personal credibility through his education and the number of years he spent

working on the topic, but his credibility also came from the fact that he had personal experience

with both the blue collar and white collar working fields. Lastly, his use of logos allowed the

readers to receive a lot of information and draw their own conclusions based on the evidence and

example the author provided. The rhetorical devices the author used are important when

considering the claims that he is making and the effectiveness of the devices is left for the

readers to decide.