Respectable Blue-Collar Guys Steve Olsen’s essay, “Year of the Blue-Collar Guy,” provides an interesting insight on the lives of “Blue-Collar Guys,” or “BCGs,” and their contributions to society; seeking to correct the negative American stereotype against BCGs. Oftentimes, they are seen as men taking whatever jobs they can get without getting an education, but Olsen proves that they are incredibly skilled and they work extremely hard, doing what they love and what they do best. Olsen most prominently uses ethos, paired with the ad hominem fallacy, classification and division, sarcasm, alliteration, and imagery to effectively persuade Americans to remember to whom we owe our utmost respect and honor-- the Blue Collar Guys. Olsen uses a variety of rhetorical patterns to develop his idea. Throughout the essay, he uses classification and division to draw the line between the “blue-collar guys” and the “white-collar guys.” An example of this is when Olsen…show more content… The usage of the ad hominem fallacy and sarcasm is to violate and belittle the character of WCGs to turn over more credit to BCGs. Alliteration and humor are both used to entertain the reader and keep their attention until the end. The audience is able to get a feeling of what Olsen talks about through his imagery and descriptive words. Ethos provides a structure of morals and ethics that speak to the reader’s conscience, and he uses just enough logos and pathos to add to the persuasiveness, but not so much to overpower the main appeal. As a whole, the rhetorical devices that Steve Olsen selected to persuade his widespread audience of the heroism of blue-collar guys was effectual. He produced an eye-opening approach for those who take the contributions of the blue-collar guys for granted, and may have never even considered the necessity for them in our hugely successful
