A NYTimes article this week caught my attention about the changing gender roles in India and social classes leading to an increase in rape. There were many interesting implications from this article, especially when they mentioned that men felt threatened by women's increasing power in Indian society and react with urges to dominate through rape. Jim Yardley, the author, is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist who frequently documents social issues in China and India. His purpose is to pinpoint the causes of the increases of rape in India, like women's power increasing the vulnerability of women in weaker social classes. He also emphasizes the issue of hesitance to report a crime and the neglect of rape victims in India, as they are now tainted and unable to fit in again. One rhetorical element he used effectively was pathos. He focuses on a single victim, and young girl who was raped, and shows how the rape has greatly affected her life. He makes the audience pity the suicide of her father after he learned about the rape, and makes them pity the fact that the rape has caused her to be unsure of her future career as a doctor. I think that he was effective in achieving his purpose, which was to make the audience aware of such issues, but he didn't really do much to suggest what to do with the information. It did make a significant emotional impact, but didn't give any incentive to take action.
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