The Colonel Essay Example

and gratitude in all aspects of his life, for instance his work as an international educator, as well as have the determination to do significant work, exemplified by his numerous awards for his writings.

Hogan wrote this essay, with the intended audience being university English students. His essay was published in the Sin Fronteras journal, which is read by college students across the country. In order to effectively convey his case, Hogan poses a cause and effect argument. He starts with defining the sport of tennis: He states that tennis was a sport that needed elegance, passion, diligence, and focus to be completely mastered. To Hogan, tennis was the lesson of life that was presented to him at a young age.

The cause in his argument would be him being introduced to tennis at a young age by his mentor. He was completely uninterested in the idea of playing tennis at first. Then after a little thought he decided to take the offer and lean the skills. The effect of this was that he was able to live his life with the morals and skills he learned by playing tennis. Hogan believes that the quality of his life was improved because of his appreciation and mastering of tennis. In order to establish exigence, Hogan relays his personal experiences about his times playing tennis to the reader.

The author makes it clear that, in the words of the colonel, “Tennis is the one game that, once you learn it, you will be able to play for the rest of your life. ” As a result, Hogan reveals how he played it every year

of his life since he was first introduced to the game (Hogan,106). In his narrative, the author tells the reader that, with the help of the Colonel, tennis helped him find focus and a way to relax. Because he was not the best at the sport, the author was able to learn to be happy not by being the number one player on the tennis courts, but instead finding joy in the magnitude of his skill.

Hogan tells the reader that even though the sport has changed since he first started playing, from a rich man's sport to a competitive game played in schools across the nation, he has found that his love of the game is timeless. The author's point still remains valid, a person should find something that they enjoy and can do for all of their years, because it will give them focus and happiness. Throughout the essay, Hogan builds his ethos through his claims and life experiences. Consistently, his claims reflect his credibility while also effortlessly transitioning between personal and universal assertions.

For instance, in trying to explain the difference between a “show player” and a “club player,” he compares the way he plays versus the way that he noticed that Gallagher played. He has the authority to make claims about his own style of playing as well as his observances about Tommy’s style and therefore supports his claim about the differences between the two. In addition, Hogan relays his thesis in a way that presents itself as a universal claim. As previously stated, he includes his thesis towards the end of the essay.

By doing so, he

is able to build his credibility throughout the essay with his personal examples so that by the conclusion, he is able to make such a statement. In terms of pathos, Hogan is able to jump right in. He uses examples, such as that on page 109 where he states: "I would play through days of political unrest and assassination in my twenties, through the bitter, rancorous divorce in my thirties, through the crushing death of a beloved child in my forties, then through uncertain days of financial disasters and over seas currency devaluation in my fifties. "

Here he is talking about how tennis helped him through difficult times in his life. He directly appeals to our emotions by describing his trial and hard ships while also making the reader sympathize with his plight. Hogan uses Pathos again when he describes playing against Gallagher. He describes how he lost all of his games, which may provoke the sympathies of the reader. However, he continues to explain that the losses sparked determination that, in turn, made it possible for him to practice more, become better at the sport, and ultimately learn humility from the experience.

On the whole, most of the essay is Hogan trying to invoke the reader’s sympathies by presenting situations where he struggled, but then later overcame obstacles and became a better player. This was all because he played the game of tennis. In order to expand on his thesis, Hogan emphasizes the use of logos. In his essay, he describes how the Colonel began teaching him to play tennis. He writes: “right after early mass on a Sunday morning, he

began teaching me the basics” (Hogan 106). The logical statement here is that the Colonel taught the author to play tennis.

Towards the end of the essay the author writes about how the Colonel taught him graciousness, politeness, and fairness in the sport of tennis. Vital lessons that the author learns are that “ it is better to win than lose than to win unfairly” and “graciousness is what saves the game from savagery and ugliness” (Hogan 108). The conclusion that the author pulls from his logos is that tennis taught him valuable lessons that are applicable in the real world, which he essentially states in his thesis when he says that tennis is “a way of moving through life with grace and a sure sense of gratitude.”

The author concludes that he has learned how to live a good life because of tennis. When broken down, it is quite clear that the intent Michael Hogan had in writing this essay was to encourage the reader to have an endeavor in life, such as tennis, that will neither expire with age, nor run out of lessons to teach. All he suggests is needed is a clear head so that once the activity has started, it is easy to achieve a state of mind where “everything is suddenly whole and perfect, and the world completely intelligible” (Hogan, 109).