Pathos: the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion.
I can't see who's got the smart mouth.
A girl shouts, "Hey, white boy, you sure got hairy legs."
"Vince0, keep your eye on the ball, " Coach Baker yells as I job back onto the court.
"Look at his spider legs," the girls hollers again. "He looks like he just crawled out of a cave."
"Vince," calls Nick. "Where's your game, man?'
I shake my head. The only thing I can think about are the taunts coming from the huddle of losers.
"Looks like he's gonna break," someone by the door says. There is an eruption of giggles.
I wheel around to take a look at them and smash face first into the wall. They are laughing their guts out like they've just seen the funniest thing in the world. " (Olsen 19)
Olsen, Sylvia. Yellow line. Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers, 2005. Print.
This scene creates Pathos towards the main character Vinny. In this scene Vinny is being made fun of by guys and girls from his High school because of his skinny and hairy legs. This creates pathos because being made fun of is something that no one wants to go through, but unfortunately everyone has. This adds to the feeling of sympathy because no matter who reads it they will feel bad for Vinny because everyone has been through it and knows what it feels like.
This is significant to the story because, as a reader, you feel pathos for Vinny and, as a result, begin to root for him to rise above all the hate that is being directed at him. This is also significant because it allows the reader the identify Vinny's situation early on in the story.
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