Article Review

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Article Review
Introduction
The article on review is “Hanging: The Mysterious Case of the Boy in the Barn” by Julia Prodis Sulek which was published on August 27, 2017, in the newspaper, The Mercury News. Sulek includes a detailed analysis of events in Josh’s life before his suicide. By employing vivid description and the rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos, Sulek makes the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life.
Summary
The article includes the story of Josh who lost his life when he was nine years old. His body was found hanging in his father’s barn in which the associated conclusion was that John committed suicide as a result of the pressure that he felt from his parents’ custody battle. Twenty-five years later, the case receives attention again on what might have actually happened with a small boy like Josh to commit suicide. Sulek goes into details whereby she includes Josh’s life story, interviews with the individuals that he associated with and his environment. She also includes a description of the investigations that took place immediately after Josh died twenty-five years ago and the current investigations.
Discussion of the Evaluated Article’s Purpose
The article is unique as it includes six chapters of detailed content. It can be viewed that its overall purpose is to inform the public about Josh’s case with respect to the events that took place during his death and the current investigations.

The article begins by introducing to the reader the beginning of the current investigations of the assumed suicide. The writer uses a visual image of a small boy facing a rope which immediately informs the audience that the article is about death. The context includes fresh investigations of the death in which the writer highlights the fact that the associated investigators were attempting to re-enact the suicide to comprehend the logic behind it. The use of informal and simple language implies that the target audience is the general public or rather anyone else interested in knowing about the case regarding the events that led to Josh’s death and the associated investigations. She assumes a personal tone in the article as if she is communicating directly with the audience. Also, most of the sentences are short. The use of vivid description, and the rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos, contribute to the writer’s goal of informing the public and the interested parties about Josh’s case.
Evaluation and Analysis
Through vivid description, Sulek makes the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life. The use of vivid description enables the audience feel as if they are part of the environments such that one visualizes the associated events. She presents concrete details through vivid description such that the audience is not left to imagine situation but rather have clear details about the case. A good example is a statement, “they walked down the gravel driveway and into the musty old barn where Klaver’s 10-year-old son, Josh, used to play with his rabbits,” (Sulek) whereby the writer describes the arrival of the detectives at Klaver’s former home. There is plenty of vivid description throughout the article that can be viewed to contribute to the flow of content and hence makes the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life.
It can be viewed that Sulek employs the rhetorical appeal of ethos to make the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life. Ethos, in this case, puts into view ethics in which focus is put on convincing the audience on the credibility of a situation. One way that the writer employs ethics is the integration of conversations and views from individuals affiliated to Josh. A good example is Josh’s mother in which the writer states that journalists are used to receiving emails and telephone calls from individuals who feel that they have something to share with others; individuals such as the mother. She explains that the mother’s story about Josh was distressing. She then includes the conversations that she shared with mother in which the mother expressed her sentiments after Josh’s death and how she never stops thinking about him. Sulek states, “I stand before God every day with my faults and all the others that caused Joshua so much pain in my hands because of the choices I made,” she said,” (Sulek) to highlight the mother’s feelings. Other conversations included in the article involve Josh’s friend and his step-mother. To further prove the story’s credibility, Sulex includes images of the suicide scene and video recordings of her interviews which expands the scope regarding Josh’s death. A good example is the image of the exact spot in the barn where Josh presumably took his life. Therefore, Sulek employs the rhetorical appeal of ethos to make the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life.
The use of pathos by Sulek also makes the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life. She achieves this by incorporating dialogue which demonstrates the sentiments shared among individuals who interacted with Josh before his death. A good example is a conversation between the journalist and Josh’s friend, Buck Tole in which the friend states, “I never understood why a 10-year-old would have had that many problems that he would commit suicide,” (Sulek). The conversation makes the audience empathize and have a better understanding of the perceptions towards the mother. Therefore, the use of pathos by Sulek makes the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life
As stated earlier, by employing vivid description and the rhetorical appeals of pathos, and ethos, Sulek makes the audience comprehend the events that took place before and after Josh’s life. The article’s overall purpose is to inform the public about Josh’s case with respect to the events that took place during his death and the current events. Sulek’s analysis can be viewed as comprehensive and detailed which widens the understanding of the case for the intended audience.
Works Cited
Sulek, Julia Prodis. “Hanging: The Mysterious Case of the Boy in the Barn”. mercurynew.com, 2017. http://extras.mercurynews.com/hanging/index.html