Argument/Claim & Evidence

I later put this to A. V. Huff, a historian of the South at Furman University in upland South Carolina. He responded by reminding me just how recent and profound the South's transformation had been. Huff told of picking cotton as child in the 1940s, when the rhythm of the school year still moved to the cotton crop. Children attended class in midsummer, during lay-by season, and returned to the fields for the autumn harvest.

Yet in Huff's own lifetime, this most fundamental of Southern rites had all but vanished from the experience of many Southerners. Many of Huff's students-mostly middle-class kids from the suburbs of Atlanta and other cities-had never ever seen a cotton crop. Huff illustrated his point by inviting me sit in on one of his classes. Lecturing on Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, he produced a boll from his family's farm as a teaching prop. The students passed the boll around, gazing at it with wonderment, as if at a mastodon's tooth.

Fewer than 5 percent of present-day Southerners now worked the land, and Dixie was fast becoming the nation's new industrial heartland, with car plants sprouting across the former cotton belt. Per capita income in the South-half the national average when Huff was born in 1937-now ranked close to the rest of America. The eleven states of the Old Confederacy comprised the fifth-largest economy in the world.

This text is based on Confederates in the Attic chapter 4 page 86-87

What is the argument?

A. V. Huff tells Toni Horwitz about how recent and profound the South's transformation have been. (the orange sentence in the paragraph)

Who is the audience?

Toni Horwitz

What is the reason?

A. V. Huff  said that the most fundamental of Southern rites (picking up cotton crop) had vanished nowadays. (the green sentence in the paragraph)

What is the appeal?

• Ethos: A. V. Huff is a historian of the South at Furman University. He also has experienced what Southener's kid usually do during school year (picking up the cotton crop).
• Pathos: We can see the emotional appeal when the kids are gazing the boll with wonderment.
• Logos: There are fewer than 5% of Southerners that worked on land. This means that most southern area has changed from agricultural area to industrial area. (the blue sentences in the paragraph)

Is it successful?

Yes it is. A. V. Huff makes a lot of appeals from ethical appeal, emotional appeal and logical appeal. He also support his argument/claim with evidences.