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Ravago, Joseph

HL English Y2

Casady

2019 May 23

Coben Response

Espionage is something often associated with foreign agents; however, it is

happening in the homes of teens across the world. While there are both pros and cons

to adding spyware onto the belongings of teens, Coben argues throughout his article

“The Undercover Parent” that it is not wrong due to the dangerous nature of the

Internet. His utilization of personal anecdotes helps drive every point he makes home as

he taps into his readers’ emotions. Through his use of rhetorical strategies of ethos,

pathos, and logos, Coben aims to convince parents of sharing his mindset that installing

spyware isn’t wrong due to the dangers of the Internet and lose who inhabit it.

Coben uses personal anecdotes throughout his article to build his credibility with

his readers. He starts with an anecdotal piece reading, “Friends of mine confessed over

dinner that they had put spyware in their 15-year-old son’s computer so they could

monitor all he did online.” (Coben, para. 1). Within common society, 15-year-olds are

seen as people who aren’t mature enough to make decisions for themselves yet. While

they have added responsibility, they’re also portrayed to be rebellious and naturally

naive. Coben is able to contrast this young teen with his own credibility when speaking

about this subject. Coben’s addition of this information at the very beginning of the piece

sets a precedent on his knowledge of the situation. By saying that his friends have put

spyware on their son’s stuff, Coben in insinuating that he has seen this happen first
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hand so his conclusions on it must be accurate. This achieves an immediate credibility

that is very similar to when there are “experts” brought onto talk shows to speak about

an issue. Coben carries throughout as towards the end of the piece he states, “But text

messages and cell phones don’t offer anonymity and danger of the Internet.” (Coben,

para. 12). Anonymity is most relevant in pop culture when referring to hacking groups

such as “Anonymous” that are synonymous with breaching privacy. This anonymity

statement drives Coben’s point further into the readers’ heads. Immediately preceding

this statement is a counter-argument to Coben’s assertion, so by refuting this, Coben is

building his credibility by displaying that he’s considered both sides and is able to stand

by his argument. This credibility helps the reader buy into the actual content of what he

is saying due to the trust that comes from his authority. Coben capitalized on this

through his utilization of emotional appeal to pair with his authority.

Coben’s emotional appeal to his audience is his most effectively utilized appeal

throughout the article as he uses extreme examples to scare his readers. Coben

presents dangers such as, “coversing with a pedofile” or somebody being “cyber bullied

to the point where she committed suicide.” (Coben, para. 8). Pedofiles and suicide are

two very serious subjects within everyday society. There are numerous courses and

awareness campaigns about both of these subjects and avoiding them at all costs. By

bringing them up as potential side effects of free usage of the web, Coben is inciting

fear among caring parents. This fear will cause them to innately agree with his

assertions as they will simply be acting according to what they think is best for their

children. Coben also states, “Trust is one thing, but surrendering parental responsibility

to a machine that allows the entire world access to your home is border negligence.”
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(Coben, para.6). Negligence carries a strong denotation within society, especially with

parents. Being called a negligent parent is perhaps the biggest insult that one can

receive as a parent so by insinuating this, Coben is able to cause panic with parents.

Their fear of being negligent will cause them to search for any way to escape this

stigma, thus turning to the spyware. Coben achieves his goal with this as he is now able

to easily convince the parents of his position without much need to do any extra work

himself. Coben’s logical appeal only serves to tie together all arguments and really drive

them home.

Coben’s use of logic is a simple appeal that allows him to continually become

familiarized with readers. He utilized this when addressing counter-arguments such as

with his refutation, “Am I suggesting eavesdropping on every conversation? No. With

new technology comes new responsibility.” (Coben, para. 11). The statement echos the

common phrase “With great power comes great responsibility.” This statement is

synonymous with superheroes, particularly Spiderman, so the commonalities is a

subliminal message that the parents are acting superhero-like. Not explicitly, but his

refutation gives parents the inclination that failing to act even in the slightest with new

technology would neglectful. He is able to establish that he is not suggesting

dictatorships within homes, but improved parenting techniques to stay with the times.

Coben also states, “Now after a fair amount of research, I get it.” (Coben, para. 1).

Research has often become synonymous with knowledge and credibility. This is a

rather simple statement made by Coben, but it holds great value for the reader. He is

boosting his credibility by showing that he did research, but also doing so with his

addressing of the other side. He is offering a sort of sentiments to the other side that,
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once again, shows that the author isn’t skewed by his opinion and can’t see the other

side. He acknowledges the other side and still sticks by his, giving the reader the logical

conclusion that his side is the one backed by research.

Coben’s utilization of ethos, pathos, and logos helped raise his credibility with

every statement he made. By doing so, he was able to effectively convince parents and

his readers that his side was the right one to be on. His support for installing spyware

was enhanced by the reader’s trust in him due to his utilization of these techniques.

While the outcomes of installing the spyware are yet to be seen, Coben was able to

craft more aware and caring parents in relation to their child’s internet usage.

Scholarship Reflection

I chose to revise my essay titled “Coben Response”. I began with fixing my

format immediately as it was not consistent with the requirements of a MLA formatted

essay. For instance, my quotation citations were incorrect and my header was aligned
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to the right rather than the left. Partly through my revision I also realized that as a

freshman I was unaware of how to use headers and page numbering so I had manually

done so, so I switched that into the header of my essay as well. The most dramatic

change was in my analysis of the quotes I chose. My entire structure of analysis was

simple and surface level at best as I was showing rather than giving detailed analysis of

what the piece was actually doing. I focused solely on what the author was doing on a

very basic level, so I first began by adding more of the “how?” aspect to my analysis.

Furthermore, I struggled with relating back to my thesis so I enhanced by abilities with

that through simple statements about the author’s purpose with my utilization of “why?”

Finally, my conclusion was weak and lacked actual substance so I reworked the entire

piece to be an actual reflection of what I had written and what lasting impressions the

article would have on audiences. Overall, my essay needed to be taken from a surface

level piece to one that provided analysis with substance for the reader.