In “Aria,” the first chapter of his memoir, author Richard Rodriguez examines the impact of his childhood, a period when he became bilingual in Spanish and English after his family moved to the United States. Rodriguez applies logos in the analytical portions, in which he addresses practices that affected children’s bilingualism in terms of classroom education. Ethos is expressed largely through his portrayal of his own experience as a source of insights into the development of bilingualism, thereby encouraging the reader to believe in his positive intentions in writing the memoir. Through the use of pathos, he makes his journey come alive to the reader with his highly personal slant, as he recalls experiences such as the shock of moving to a new community and starting a new school.

Rodriguez developed his unique perspectives on bilingualism and bilingual education through a combination of personal experiences and knowledge of the US educational system and related government policies that formerly supported monolingual classroom education. While logos, the appeal to rationality and logic, is essential to make his arguments convincing, ethos and pathos occupy a larger share of the text because it is his own memoir.

Rodriguez is able to demonstrate ethos by writing from his perspective as a successful adult who credits his achievements in part to the enforced adoption of English at an early age. His use of pathos supports this stance because he does not downplay the traumatic aspects of national and cultural transformations, but also offers the joyful aspects of making new friends and mastering a new language.