An Emotional Appeal for a World Community

In Studs Terkel's NPR interview titled "Community in Action," Terkel tells of a childhood event that radically shaped his opinions of mankind. Terkel remembers an emotional scene in which a community of people banded together during the Great Depression to take care of one another and survive. This heartwarming story acts as a genuine emotional appeal to the audience to treat others as, in his words, "a community in action." Terkel argues that it is through community and togetherness that people achieve greatness. He effectively argues this through the use of ethos and pathos, which use the author's trustworthiness and the community's values to persuade the audience.

The interview of Terkel first establishes his intellectual credibility by accounting some background information to the listener. Studs Terkel is a Pulitzer Prize winner who spent most of his career studying the lives of others. His many life experiences give him a very sensible opinion of how people should react to one another. Moreover, his old age (93 at the time of the interview) gives him an air of wisdom and dependability. He speaks in a strong, genuine tone that compels the audience to take his word as honest truth.

The real heart and soul of this interview, however, is within the actual story of a neighbor being evicted from their home during the Depression. The people of the community encircled the family in love and moved them back into their old house, turning back on the utilities. This togetherness exemplifies his belief that, "it's the community in action that accomplishes more than any individual does, no matter how strong he may be." This sense of a natural human connection is what Terkel says encourages us to achieve our greatest successes and, as the story proves, holds us up when we face our greatest struggles. This is the most compelling part of his argument because it appeals to the audience's morality in an incredibly memorable way.

Studs Terkel's interview effectively uses what Jack Seltzer describes as epideictic rhetoric, which is most often used to "create and reinforce community values." Terkel quite obviously appeals to community values -- he urges the world to care for one another and develop a certain feeling of brotherhood for one another. His belief in a "community in action" spurs the audience to reach out to their own community and be unafraid of taking care of other people. His world community dream is one of compassion, empathy, charity, and above all else it is one of love.