Written

Homeless man uses social media

General Response

Overall this article was heartwarming and very inspiring. I was pleasantly surprised by how invested I was in this man and his life story. Seeing someone go to such lengths to advocate on the behalf of others is something that is not seen that often in today’s ‘dog eat dog’ society. I think the author did a great job of portraying an inspiring story and delivering it in such a way that grasped the attention of the reader.

Analysis

In my opinion the single most effective element of this article was the author’s use of pathos. He immediately begins the article by illustrating the rough background from which Eric Sheptock comes from, which grabs the attention of the reader as well as pulls on their heart strings.  The author then shifts to a positive appeal for the pathos with a story of redemption and human kindness. Sheptock went from being a crack addict living on the street to actively sacrificing basic human necessities in order to aid the people in the situation that he was in for so many years. The use of quotes from Sheptock himself allow the reader to have a window into his mind, and to connect on a personal level which only makes the article more effective.