Analysis of “The Education of Dasmine Cathey”

 “The Education of Dasmine Cathey” by Brad Wolverton is about a former University of Memphis football player and his struggles with reading. With both of his parents leaving the city to do their own thing, Dasmine Cathey took on the role of helping take care of his three younger siblings. He worked to better himself by reading learn-to-read books. He fell behind in classes because he focused so much on helping others over himself. Some counselors from the university tried to help, but it was only so much they could do. After his hard time at Memphis, Cathey began working for a company loading and unloading boxes on a truck. Brad Wolverton uses pathos to connect with the audience, he uses logos to include examples that his audience can relate to, and he aims the purpose to college professors and football students.

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 Wolverton uses pathos to appeal to the emotions of the audience, he uses an impassioned tone to convey the story of Dasmine Cathey. Pathos is a rhetorical device that works in concurrence with logos to help the argument. It offers another way for the audience to empathize with the subject. Wolverton describes situations and obstacles that stood in the way of Cathey devoting all of his time to his academics. He stated, “Mr.Cathey has hopped from couch to couch the past few years – moving six times in his senior year alone – so he can pocket the room-and-board money he receives from the university for his family” (Wolverton 149). He allows the audience to feel more emotion for Dasmine Cathey by getting deeper than the simple fact that Cathey had problems with reading. Wolverton reveals that Cathey had many more things that served as a reason behind his disadvantage with reading. By Wolverton including the fact that Cathey sacrificed some of his scholarship money to provide for his family allowed the readers to sympathize with him. Appealing to the emotions of the readers elevated their understanding of the whole reading more. If Wolverton had just told the readers about Cathey’s reading troubles and not the other factors, then they would have questioned his ability to go and get help. Presenting the other factors behind the problem, in the article, entitled the audience to connect with Cathey more on a personal level. Wolverton proceeds to say, “He said a prayer, asking God for help in understanding what mattered most as he neared the end of his college days. Football was over months ago, but it still ruled his life” (Wolverton 160). In the end of his senior year, Cathey was arrested on traffic violations. Wolverton ends the article with one of the last obstacles that made Cathey fail college. The effect of him ending on this note invokes the emotions of the readers even more than it already did. Throughout the whole article Wolverton told about Cathey balancing his family and course work. Then when Cathey finally gets a chance to at least get a last chance to do right, he is faced with yet another setback. He does this to express to the audience how even more barriers affected Cathey and so that the readers can feel for Dasmine Cathey.

 Wolverton intends to present this situation to college professor and college student athletes because they can relate. The content of most articles starts with the the writer choosing a certain audience. The article allows for a example for that particular audience. In the beginning of the article it said, “He hid them in a shoebox under his bed….Inside the box, he kept 10 thin paperbacks he was given as a child. For years he didn’t touch them. But as he reached 19, they became a lifeline” (Wolverton 143). He started the article catching the attention of the audience because they wanted to know what Cathey was keeping a secret. Cathey locked himself in his dorm room and read quietly so others would not hear him. This part of the article serves as a motion for other student athletes to know that if they have trouble reading they are not alone. The effect of Wolverton doing this can inspire other student athletes to face their troubles. Mr. Luckey, a president for the University’s National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics, said “…I can’t believe how many kids are reading below a seventh-grade level” (Wolverton 146). The university recently required a reading test for athletes, then they noticed how bad the situation was. After they dug deeper, they noticed that so many others were in the same situation as Dasmine Cathey and they most likely also tried to hide it in result of facing embarrassment. Wolverton uses Cathey’s story to bring realization to student athletes who are afraid because they think they are alone. The author wrote that, “During his court date the next day, he missed a deadline for his family communication class, and his professor – who had already offered extensions on previous missed assignments – wouldn’t let him make it up” (Wolverton 160). Some things Cathey went through led to more problems for him and just like when he started school, it bleed into his academic side of his life. Many professors understand that students also have an outside life, but some also do not know how deep it can get. Wolverton used Cathey to communicate to professors that some students actually try, but unfortunate events happen unexpectedly.

 Brad Wolverton makes use of logos, particularly through telling specific experiences including things private to Dasmine Cathey and the counselor, as a means to build the trust of the audience. Logos is a rhetorical device that appeals to logic, it is the evidence and coherence of the writer’s argument. His usage of logos develops his purpose that is to inform the audience of the struggles that are behind the scene. Cathey shared his grade point averages from his transcript that showed, “… 2.0, 1.5, 2.3, 2.8, 1.5, 2.1, 1.4, 2.5, 2.8, 1.3, 2.0, 2.9, 0.5, 0.8” (Wolverton 148). He said that these numbers were shared with The Chronicle , boosting the accountability of logos because it came from a dependable source and uses specific numbers that can be used as evidence for Cathey’s struggle. Instead of providing actual numbers, he could have simply said that Cathey had low consistent grade point averages. Wolverton’s use of credible people assists in making sure that his audience will be presented with detailed information. He uses info from the counselor, Ms.Connell, who says, “ I’m here…because I won’t give up on him no matter how many times he falls” (Wolverton 151). By talking to people who were close to Dasmine Cathey, Wolverton built a strong foundation for his audience to understand and feel Cathey’s situation. The incorporation of Ms.Connell makes the story deeper and engages the reader into the context of the story.

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 Wolverton appeals to the emotion of the audience in order to help them make more sense of Cathey’s case. He did this in case one may not understand all of the circumstances behind his failure. His use of logical reasoning for the audience serves as credibility. It determines if the audience would believe his argument or not. Wolverton asserts his purpose to a specific audience, college professors and athletes, because the article’s purpose is so peculiar. Ultimately, his use of these methods effectively displays an engrossing piece.

Works Cited

Wolverton, Brad, and Lance Murphey. “The Education of Dasmine Cathey.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 June 2012, www.chronicle.com/interactives/dasmine-cathey.