“My Son the Marine” by Frank Schueffer Essay

The story â€Å"My Son the Marine† Is written by Frank Schueffer. The reason for this paper is to identify weather or no to author used logos ethos or pathos in the story. The story took place on a summer day. One day after high school a young boy decides he wanted to join the military. The young boy talks to almost all of the military recruiters except one. Later that afternoon there was a knock on his door from the one military branch he did not visit, The United States Marine Corp (USMC). The boy was taken by the appearance and demeanor of the two marines at his door. After his talk with the marines he decided that is he was to join the military he would definitely join the marine. The boy’s father could not understand his decision. he thought it was a waste of his son’s talent and could envision his soft son the one that like poetry would be tough enough to handle the mental, physical and emotional aspects of the journey to becoming a Marine . Later in the story the father starts to understand the question of why his son wants to join the USMC. The logos of this story is shown when the father changes his mind set from, my son couldn’t possibly be a Marine to thinking of his son as a Marine. â€Å"Did he have it in him to become a Marine? I knew that john’s idea of a good time was to curl up in front of the fireplace and rereading his favorite bits of The Hobbit.† To a parent worst fear is that there children will try something that is out of the area of knowledge and the child gets there hope up only to fall short of their goals. â€Å"When his son parade in†, a tall Marine† every parent dreams that there children will succeed. There are only a few examples of ethos; one was shown when the father was over thinking his son’s decision to join the military. â€Å"Why the hell was John going into the Marines†? The other example  of ethos, which is more profound, is the last par t of the story but certainly no least when the father hangs up the phone from talking to his son. â€Å"I stared at the television there were fire-fighters cops and military personnel struggling to find survivors and thousands dead. I felt deeply frustrated being able to do nothing. At least I knew that I could look the men and women in uniform in the eyes. My son, after all, was one of them†. The author did a great job of building repore and empathy for the father in the story. The author was able to use creative use of words to set the tone or mood of the father’s confusion about his sons need for to become the â€Å"few the proud a Marine†. The tone that was created was soft, protective, and thoughtful. And showed a change in tone and mode when the fathers son finally graduated and became a Marine The story, in conclusion, is a heartfelt story of a man and his son. It concerns the journey off what parents go through when saying goodbye to their children as they set off in unknown and unchartered territory. The pride the parents feel when their children suc ceed is exponential. The author wss able to capture the heart sting of the reader. Although the author used false logic to almost convince the father that his son was destined to fail. Works Cited Scueffer, Frank. My Son the Marine. Reading Literature and writing assignements 4th ed.