Sarah Eversole

Prof. Myers

English 1101

19 October 2018

A Whisper of AIDS Rhetorical Essay

AIDS was an epidemic that began in the late 1960s in the United States. The true

epidemic didn’t begin until the 1980s, but when it started, it affected hundreds of thousands

Americans and became the leading cause of death among Americans in 1995. In the beginning

people believed only homosexual men were affected, but it also spread to others through blood

transfusions for hemophiliacs and the sharing of needles. Mary Fisher, the speaker in the 1992

Republican National Convention Address, was a mother who became infected with AIDS who

wrote this speech to help make the American people aware of this epidemic. To help them speak

about AIDS openly, to help them know that it’s okay, they don’t have to be cautious of using the

word around others. Mary Fisher’s speech was a call to arms for the people, to come out and

speak about AIDS so we can all try to not shame those who are affected, so that we can help

them instead of shun them.

Fisher appeals mostly to pathos in her speech, and how she does this is very powerful and

moving. Fisher says, “Though I am white and a mother, I am one with a black infant struggling

with tubes in a Philadelphia hospital. Though I am female and contracted this disease in

marriage… I am one with the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind

of his family’s rejection.” This paragraph is very powerful as she tells us that she is just like

everyone else suffering from AIDS, despite race, gender, and sexual orientation. This appeals to

pathos because she is speaking about how we are all the same and that we should all be
supportive of each other through hard times of pain and suffering. Fisher also says, “Someday

our children will be grown. My son Max, now four, will take the measure of his mother. My son

Zachary, now two, will sort through his memories… I want my children to know that their

mother was now a victim. She was a messenger.” This statement appeals to pathos by including

her children. Soon her children will be orphans due to this terrible disease, and she wants them to

not feel sorry for her, she wants them to be proud of the woman that there mother was. She wants

them to not be scared to tell others that their mother had AIDS; she wants them to be proud to

tell others that their mother was a messenger to the people to help them to speak openly about

this epidemic.

Fisher establishes ethos, her credibility, because she is a woman who has been affected

by AIDS. Because of this fact, she is very knowledgeable and fair when speaking on the subject.

In her speech, Fisher says, “If you believe you are safe, you are in danger. Because I was not a

hemophiliac, I was not at risk. Because I was not gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject

drugs, I was not at risk.” This quote helps to establish her credibility because it proves how

knowledgeable Fisher is about AIDS. All of the things she stated, being gay, injecting drugs,

being a hemophiliac, are the number one causes of AIDS. However, this is not always the case

due to the fact that if it was, Fisher would have been safe, she would have never been affected by

AIDS.

Fisher also appeals to logos, or logic by using facts about the AIDS epidemic in her

speech. In her speech, Fisher says “Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying. A

million more are infected.” This line in her speech shows how many people AIDS affects in the

United States alone. This is a call to the people that we need to do something about this. We need

to help fight against this disease and we need to learn more about it. People who are affected by
AIDS are still human, and we as a society should treat them as such. Fisher also says, “Largely

unknown a decade ago, AIDS is the third leading killer of young adult Americans today.” This

quote helps to show how deadly this epidemic truly is. Those young adults are people’s sons and

daughters. They are human beings who need help and support through their pain and suffering.

There is no cure for AIDS, all of these people affected, will die from it.

In conclusion, Mary Fisher’s speech, A Whisper of AIDS, is extremely effective in getting

its point across. It is also very effective in meeting the needs and expectations of her audience as

she herself expected. Fisher’s use of pathos truly tugs at heartstrings and makes people feel as

though they need to change how they view people affected by AIDS, and to treat them as human

beings. Her use of logos shows how knowledgeable Fisher is on the topic, giving facts about how

people are affected and fact about just how many Americans are affected. Finally, Fisher’s use of

ethos establishes her credibility because she is affected by the disease. As a reader, Fisher’s

speech is very persuasive due to her use of pathos because her speech is very emotional. After

reading through this speech numerous times and analyzing it, this speech persuasive, sound, and

extremely valid.

Works Cited

Fisher, Mary. A Whisper of AIDS. 1992 Republican National Convention Address, 19 August

1992, Houston, Texas. Speech.