Blog Post #3 Rhetorical Analysis Article

1. ARTICLE:
When Infidelity Heals
by Tracy Clark-Flory

2. SUMMARY:
This article puts into perspective the opportunity infidelity brings to mend what's been broken in a relationship; not only putting the affair that has happened behind but healing the problems leading up to the affair.  Flory suggests that the action of infidelity can bring a couple closer together if both individual's have the willingness to work through the problems at hand.  She puts into literal terms, however, that infidelity is the cause of the destruction of a relationship, more distance between a couple, and even more discrepancy in communication.  It's all about how the couple decides to understand the infidelity, whether or not the couple is willing to move past it, and whether or not they're willing to face all of the problems underneath the surface of the affair.  

3. 5 RHETORICAL STRATEGIES:

    1. LOGIC (LOGOS): "Perel says that it’s vital for both partners to engage in this introspection — it isn’t     just the cheater’s responsibility. 'People who’ve been able to see that maybe there were other kinds of      betrayal that were not just about the affair — there was neglect or indifference or contempt or sexual     blockage,' she says. 'They are able to look at how an affair can be a betrayal for one person and at the same     time an expansive experience for the other.'”

    2. COUNTER-EXAMPLES: throughout the piece, the writer gives examples of both how infidelity can bring a couple together as well as how it can break a couple apart.
         "Plenty manage to stay together without ever transcending the affair – some 'never really get past          the affair' or 'they pull themselves up by the bootstraps and let it go.' For a third group, though, 'the affair becomes a transformational experience and catalyst for renewal and change.'"

    3. TONE: The tone expressed in this piece is hopeful and informative. Its gives couple's who are coping with infidelity hope that there is a positive way out. It informs reader's what infidelity really means and the         many effects it can have on a relationship-both positive and negative.

    4. STRUCTURE: This piece is logically structured, giving facts, statistics, examples, and statements from         proffessionals to provide reliability to this piece.

    5. ALLITERATION: "The specter of cheating looms large these days"

4. WHY THIS ARTICLE?:
I found this article to be very interesting because it tested my perspective of infidelity.  I always considered that when a significant other cheated, it meant that the person ended things with them if they respected themselves, and if not, that they were doomed to have an unsuccessful relationship, and didn't have much respect for themselves.  I guess the context of infidelity is different within a relationship and within a marriage, and this article helped me to understand that.  This article also opens new insight into how infidelity not only can be overcome and successfully left in the dust, but can help a relationship to become something greater than it originally was.