Timed Writing 10/5/16

Is Anne Frank Considered a Modern Day Syrian Girl?

Since the outbreak of the civil war in March 2011, an estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes in fear. Now, in the sixth year of war, 13.5 million refugees are in need of humanitarian assistance within the country. In Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times column “Anne Frank Today is a Syrian Girl”, Kristof states that the Syrian refugees today are being treated remarkably similar to the way the jews were treated during the Holocaust in the 1930’s and 40’s. Nicholas Kristof; Harvard graduate, Pulitzer Prize winner, and New York Times Op-Ed writer uses the many rhetorical strategies in order to justify to his audience how similar Americans treated european refugees during World War II and how Americans treat Syrian refugees now. Kristof uses multiple rhetorical devices to prove the need for Americans to acknowledge the severity of the Syrian crisis by comparing Syrian refugees to Holocaust victims. Nicholas Kristof comparing these two events is very effective because the audience understands the severity of the Holocaust when they may not fully understand how severe the Syrian crisis really is.

Nicholas Kristof uses many different rhetorical devices throughout this column. One of the main devices he uses is emotional appeal in order to engage his audience. Using emotions in writings hooks the readers and captivates their interest. Kristof connects a lot of emotions through pictures of Syrian refugees in need. The picture Kristof uses in “Anne Frank Today is a Syrian Girl” is a picture of Anne Frank as a child and a crying Syrian girl who is covered in dirt and blood from the airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. Comparing these two little girls is how Kristof compares the European and Syrian refugees through emotion. Kristof also relates to emotions when he describes what is happening in Syria today in order to inform readers of how much the refugees are in need. Kristof says, “President Obama’s reluctance to do more to try to end the slaughter in Syria casts a shadow on his legacy…” (Kristof). Because the use of the word “slaughter” has such a negative connotation and visual image, it immensely affects the audience through emotion and truly gives them a descriptive image of the damage in Syria.