Rhetorical Analysis: "Where Sweatshops Are a Dream"

Blog Post #5

Would you rather find scrapes in landfill or work in a sweatshop for a living? Nicholas D. Kristof's article of, "Where Sweatshops are a Dream," defends sweatshops and their bad reputation, because he believes jobs in factories are what the people in poorer countries need. The purpose of Kristof's argument was to prove that sweatshops are not the worst workplaces in poor countries. I believe her article was overall confusing, due to the evidence to defend her topic. While her introduction and conclusions statements were strong, the paragraphs in-between displayed more opinions than evidence. The article itself did not organize information to wear a reader can understand the author's defense towards sweatshops. 

Nicholas D. Kristof introduces his article by describing a garbage dump in Phnom Penh. He states, "This is a Dante-like vision of hell. It's a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across, emitting clouds of smoke from subterranean fires," in hopes of the reader to create the imagery across their mind. After, the sentence quotes, "The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn. Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy five cents a pound. Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garage." His introduction is effective, because it allows readers to have imagery and sympathize for the struggling children and their families.

Source: Google Images

Children hoping to find treasures in a landfill

He writes as if the audience is unaware of the poverty and its causes towards many families. In some of the poorest areas of the world, working in a sweatshop is a dream job. His purpose in this essay is to bring awareness that in some of the poorest countries, sweatshops are a means to a better life even if people don't want to admit it. In order to accomplish this purpose, he appeals to the Pathos aspect of the rhetorical triangle by describing children digging through piles of trash to find plastic to sell or use in their daily living. In his essay, Kristof includes a refutation to his argument by saying sweatshops are not the best places to work and that he wouldn't work there himself. The author could've defended his refutation more for depth within the argument. Another flaw of the article was its lack of credibility, because Kristof mentions only once that he was in Asia for years, but all these facts could be theorized by him and many of his stories seem very generic or unbelievable. He concludes by pointing out if these countries grew their manufacturing business and offered real jobs, the problem and rage would occur less within these countries.

Overall, the author's argument is weak due to the lack of evidence and use of the three elements of the rhetoric triangle. If he added more factual evidence provided by credible sources, his argument would've been more persuasive. To make his article easier to understand, he would've needed to organize his points and information to progress to his main idea. His opinion was very unique and eye opening, but it could've been changed to convey a stronger appeal towards the readers.