“All the Single Ladies” by Kate Bolick (Rhetorical)

In the 2011, November issue of The Atlantic, the cover article titled “All The Single Ladies” by Kate Bolick, was published. This powerful article presents a strong, independent, feminist-minded woman, who discusses marriage with the economic and demographic changes, the role of women and men in education and the workplace, and how these shifts are changing traditional marriage. Bolick uses ethos, pathos, and logos to reach out to the “Single Ladies”, the feminists, and the enlightened men about marriage in today’s quickly changing world.
In recent years, there has been an explosion of male joblessness and a decline in male income, educational attainment, and employment prospects. However, in this brave new world women are rising to the top higher than ever in their education and careers. The world is consistently changing. In one-way which differs from the past is the variety of our interactions with the opposite sex. Now the opposite sex can be our classmates, bosses, or subordinates.
Then come the debates that are all these statistics decreasing the group of traditionally “marriageable” men. Bolick explores how this new gender balance is giving people a fresh new outlook and prospect to re-think how they look at the institution of marriage. She explains how this shift is causing some women to choose to delay marriage, and why remaining single is not such a bad idea. Bolick demonstrates intrinsic ethos by being exceptionally knowledgeable about women’s success and the alterations of customary marriage.

The single 39-year-old feminist, with a New York University master’s degree in cultural criticism is a recipient of a MacDowell fellowship. She has also taught writing, which shows Bolick’s extraordinary literary credentials. With a blend of personal reflection and reporting, she equally adds together reflecting on her own life and experiences as well as interviewing others about their lives and encounters. Bolick shares many of her own personal dating experiences. She chooses to write about these ideas for the reason that it is her life and the way she was raised.
Bolick relies heavily on the strong influences and encouragement from her mother as seen throughout the article, “[Not being ready to settle down] is a second-wave feminist idea I’d acquired from my mother, who had embraced it, in part, I suspect, to correct for her own choices” (Bolick 118). Her mother learned from her own mistakes, and wanted nothing more but a future of limitless possibilities for her daughter. This is why there was so much stress on not being tied down just yet.
Due to Katie Bolick’s upbringing and choice to be a single woman, has strengthened her argument and credentials and makes her a credible voice in the debate about marriage. Bolick begins her essay in an interesting and heartfelt way, where she uses pathos while reaching out to her reader’s hearts and capturing the reader’s interest. She specifically describes her break up with the perfect and exceptional boyfriend of three years for no good reason. Heartbreak is more than just an emotional defeat; it is painfully real. Readers connect and start to feel sorry for her when we read, “The period that followed was awful.
I barely ate for sobbing all the time” (Bolick 116). This detached tone in her writing significantly shows and suggest Bolick’s attitude and feelings towards her painful past. Her readers can feel that this tone expresses tender emotions. Most members of her audience have likely been there before, recognizing the feeling of heartbreak she describes. However, at one point or another, the majority of people can relate to a mind numbing feeling: fears of being alone, fears of making a mistake. Bolick uses her emotional break up to engage the audience’s emotions as they imagine and relate to the feeling.
Bolick enforces a logical appeal as she demonstrates being a strong user of data and statistics. She supports all her informative ideas and arguments with evidence, that provides for her claims. As seen throughout the article are facts to back up her initial idea, such as: “For starters, we keep putting marriage off. In 1960, the median age of first marriage in the U. S. was 23 for men and 20 for women; today it is 28 and 26” (Bolick 120). She uses several statistics to show the growing number of marriages being delayed nowadays.
She also successfully compares statistics of men’s and women’s education and workplace accounts. She has clearly done a great deal of research and it is shown here as well as in all of her statistics. These statistics not only add surprise and interest to her writing, but also add logical appeal. With Bolick’s efficient use of the data and facts, the article backs itself with rationale and logic which leads the audience to a greater understanding and to logically infer and agree with her agreement of why the shift in marriages is currently on hold.
These statistics displayed by the author are logically appealing and unmistakably apparent in her perspective and studies. Throughout the article, Bolick successfully and skillfully uses ethos, pathos, and logos to create a strong, convincing article. More important than the purpose of these techniques she uses independently is how Bolick uses them together, overlapping to create effective writing to inform the reader, and present her ideas on how the world around us is changing therefore, altering the idea of family and romance.
In today’s world, education, the workplace, and marriage is very different from what it use to be. It is time to reevaluate marriage. As the economy evolves, we are now offered an opportunity. It is time to embrace new ideas and thoughts about romance relationships and family, acknowledging and kissing traditional marriages goodbye. Works Cited Bolick, Kate. “All The Single Ladies. ” Atlantic Monthly (10727825) 308. 4 (2011): 116-136. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 Nov. 2012.