“Imagining the Immigrant” by John J Savant Essay

A Rhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Imagining the Immigrant† by John J Savant According to the emeritus professor, John J Savant, imagination is centripetal, a discipline contemplation of reality that takes us beneath appearances and into the essence of what we contemplate.(374 ) In Savant’s essay, he was ,generally speaking, towards an audience to the people of our country and also the government. .The essay focuses on the importance of immigrant laws in guarding the right of immigrants in the United States. Savants successfully expresses his ideas and problems in this essay by using the rhetorical appeal of pathos, the call to the audience’s emotions, and to also gain support from the crowd and connect them to the issues he acknowledges on an emotional level. Savant effectively makes use of pathos throughout his introduction and captures the reader’s attention from the beginning by saying, â€Å"Great detectives, we are told, are able to think like criminals. Similarly, effective therapist learn to enter into the fantasies of their patients† (374), immediately appealing to â€Å"emotions†. He felt that most individuals can relate to his saying because it all has to do with our own imagination on how we think of certain things- being able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. He mentions those stories about Eusebio and Marta who are living in poverty. Yet, mostly everyone knows there are real lawbreakers in our presence, and they are not alone. Savant overemphasized during this part of his essay, which makes his audience feel manipulated. He made no real argument; it was all based on his passion and imagination. The target audience is mainly towards the government and the people of our country. He wants the reader to think outside of the box, putting themselves in his/her shoes. â€Å"If we are not to betray the dream, we simply must imagine better† (375). At this point, his audience does not feel influenced, and he failed with where his argument was going. He wants his audience to imagine, imagine, Imagine, which makes it hard on the reader because he did not give enough argument as to why imagination in America is the cause of its downfall. John Savants purpose of this essay was to encourage the reader to be more open-minded when it comes to illegal immigrants. As a nation, he felt they should be able to balance the difference between moral and legal issues and to be able to come together in order to create something perfect. His purpose was to get them to understand, are they able to get past venerable logic to discover, grasp, promote morally required options, demanded in loving their neighbors. To sum up, Savant could have made his essay stronger than what it is. His argument was not strong enough in order for his audience to fully get where he is coming from. He over exaggerated in some parts of the essay making it seem like he wants them to feel sympathy. Savant was very big on imagination, not real life issues. He made no argument based on reality, historical situations, the economy, or even the government, it was all based on his own imagination and emotion.