Often when someone reads an article, they do nothing to change their ways of life in response.  However, with the right kinds of words and appeals, an article can quickly turn into a piece that fully captures the audience's interest and inspires a change.  In "The Pleasures of Eating", the author, Wendell Berry, does so when reflecting on the issues of modern American agriculture and what it would mean to eat more responsibly and actively.  Berry provides a convincing argument through appealing to his readers' emotions and values, taking his argument to a more personal level with his own experiences, and incorporating logos and ethos to bolster his claim.

To reach his audience's emotions, Berry incorporates negative aspects of industrialized farming, not only for the farm animals, but for the consumer as well.  First off, he goes straight for a well-known American value, freedom, to get an emotional reaction out of his readers.  When talking about food industrialists, Berry exaggeratedly notes "that they do not yet offer to insert it, prechewed, into our mouth is only because they have found no profitable way to do so" (Berry 535).  Even with stretching the actual actions of the industrialists, he does point out the selfishness and abuse that these people show.  In making such a statement, he causes readers to feel taken advantage of and upset at this reality.  He evokes a feeling of violation, perhaps anger in his readers, successfully making them more inclined to listen to his claim since it so directly affects them and their freedom. 

After this more personal appeal to emotions, he moves on to mention the injustice of the treatment of some farm animals while discussing the disconnect between expectations and actual farming practices.  Giving a few examples; "a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement . . . or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet . . . spent its life in a box in which it did not have room to turn around" (Berry 536), the author provides a picture of what some consumers actually have on their plates.  This imagery provokes an emotional reaction from the reader  -- whether sadness for the animals, or resentment towards their owners.  This emotion allows the reader to reflect on how their food came to be.  By describing the conditions outright, consumers cannot ignore the inhumane practices done in order for their food to be produced.  To cause more of a reaction, he then later provides a dramatic contrast between the pictures of industrial farming and natural farming.  In portraying more natural farming, he uses phrases such as, "pleasant, uncrowded life outdoors", "bountiful pasture", and "happily and healthily in good soil" (Berry 538).  This gives the image of a happy, picture-perfect scene of what farm life should look like and where food products should come from.  However, when providing the example of the opposite, industrial farming, he presents it to look "more like a concentration camp" (Berry 538).  By making a comparison to a place as horrible as a concentration camp, he continues to reach out to readers' empathy.  He causes only feelings of horror mingled with sadness, perfectly getting his point across.  By painting such a harsh, but very well true, picture of reality, Berry maintains the emotional attention of his readers.  They only further understand the magnitude of injustice that these animals suffer.  By describing in detail animal and farm abuse, Berry uses pathos to appeal to the audience's emotions in order to keep them invested in his thus effective argument.

Berry continues developing this connection with the reader through a specific call-to-action.  In starting to close up his argument, Berry puts together a whole list for how his readers can take his points to heart to change the way they consume food.  In order to eat more responsibly, he suggests seven extensive ways that in sum entail becoming more involved in the actual food process as much as possible, learning the ways of it, how best to do so, and getting food from more direct sources (Berry).  He describes growing one's own food as "the beautiful energy cycle that revolves from soil to seed to flower to fruit to food to offal to decay, and around again" (Berry 537), giving the whole process an appealing portrayal.  By using words like "beautiful" in depicting what the readers can do, he further enforces the positive aspects of following the steps he lists.  As a result, the audience is much more likely to want to be a part of this beautiful, personal process than take part in the "heinous" culture of industrial farming.  

By detailing personal experiences and tips on eating pleasurably, Berry connects with the audience and builds pathos.  He offers up personal commentary and suggestions for eating pleasurably, such as, "to eat seafood instead of red meat or poultry when I am traveling" (Berry 538).  In saying what he does to go along with his claim of eating and partaking in agriculture more, he gives a real, personal example of what a regular consumer can easily do.  This provides simple ways that people can change their ways of eating, without having to go to completely change their lifestyle, such as becoming vegan.  This makes it much more likely for the audience to believe in actually trying to make a difference in the agricultural world, from seeing Berry make small changes in simple steps.  Continuing in giving personal examples, he talks about only wanting to eat meat, fruits, and vegetables that enjoyed a pleasant life.  When giving his own ways of doing things, he makes his claim more personalized, thereby more likely to reach out to the readers and make them actually listen to his claim.  By providing personal examples and giving a particular, detailed list of steps readers can take to better their eating, Berry adds a more individualized touch to his argument that makes the readers listen more and become further invested.  

After capitalizing on pathos, Berry also slips in some logos and ethos through establishing himself as a well-experienced, authorized, and rational source to which readers should listen to.  Right from the start, he provides an authoritative touch to his very first sentence when he says, "Many times, after I have finished a lecture on the decline of American farming and rural life" (Berry 534).  By stating that he has often lectured on this topic, he implies that he is well-versed in the topic and his discussion on it, thus incorporating invented ethos.  This gets readers to trust him from the beginning as an established source on the topic at hand  --  American farming.  To bolster his authority, he tries to appeal to the audience's existing values by mentioning how people's freedom is being affected, using invented ethos through arete, "performance of values and identities regarded by the audience" (Meyer).  Therefore, he shows how he reaches out to readers through the traditional American value of freedom.  This instance of ethos also mingles with logos, as he gives reasoning behind his claim that industrialists infringe upon consumers' freedom in saying that "our food and its sources are controlled by someone else" (Berry 535).  In offering this rationale, he establishes his statement as a valid and logical argument.  Also through this, he gives himself a way to then delve deeper into the issues of the politics of food, detailing the injustices of it and how it all works.  In doing so, he expands his authoritative tone by sounding more knowledgeable about the subject.  Overall, he easily ties in ethos and pathos to give himself more of a trustworthy and logical presence to go along with his ultimate use of pathos.

Ultimately, Berry's use of pathos in his discussion on American agriculture makes his argument rhetorically effective.  By causing an emotional reaction for the reader, giving personal suggestions, and supporting it with logos and ethos, he makes a convincing claim.  Many times, when perusing such an article, readers disregard the claims made, finding it to be too much work to alter their way of life after reading such a piece.  But, considering Berry's way of appealing to his audience on a more personalized level through their emotions and his own examples, he captures the attention and investment of his audience.  Through this skillful use of pathos, along with some ethos and logos, he makes for a convincing claim.  After reading this article, one would definitely consider changing their mind when making their next decision about eating pleasurably.

