Jodi Picoult

For my speech, I wanted to find something that really stood out and interested me. After doing some thinking, I decided to find an interview of my favorite author, Jodi Picoult. Here is an interview given by Katie Couric about Jodi's new book, Lone Wolf.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZU9LpdPvuE

This interview has an abundance of Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. As I was watching this, I was amazed by how things in each category really stood out to me.

Logos is the first one that I will touch on. At one point in the interview, Katie Couric points out how all of Jodi's books are about really controversial issues. Some deal with abortion, suicide, school shootings, and organ donations. All of these issues are extremely thought provoking and will cause the reader to think deeper about the subject at hand. Jodi talked about how she thinks long and hard about these issues before deciding to write about them. She said that if they really stick in her mind for long periods of time, she feels that it is worth writing about. All of her topics in her books catch the interest of her readers and leads them to ask questions about what they are reading about. The issues which she is writing about are topics that need to be addressed, so it's essential for people to not only learn about them, but form their own opinions of them.

Ethos is another big part of this speech. Right off the bat Katie mentioned how Jodi had already written 19 books. Jodi also commented on the fact that she usually starts a new book the day after she finished her last one. Obviously, she is a very talented and credible author. Throughout the interview, Jodi talked about how much research she does before writing each book. This obviously shows how much time and effort she puts in to the facts that go in to her books. All of those combined shows that she is a very credible source.

During the interview, Jodi used a lot of pathos as well. While she was talking about writing new books, Jodi put herself in the readers shoes by asking herself things such as what would I do while reading it. She was always telling stories that would make the audience laugh, and she showed herself in a very humble way. The way Jodi presented herself and talked made her seem very relatable, and showed the audience that she is just like everybody else.

Overall I think the audience of this speech is for those who are interested in reading, especially those who are fans of hers. As for the purpose, I believe this was to inform her fans of how she comes up with the ideas of her books, as well as to show readers that she is a normal human being like the rest of us. The other purpose could be to engage readers to really think about the issues in her books since they are so controversial.