CNN: I Wanted to Be the Last Thing They Heard, Not the Gunfire

While the United States mourns over the loss of 26 lives due to a school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, new and reassuring stories of the incident continue to emerge over the weekend, helping comfort Americans about the self-lessness that is human nature.
Janet Vollmer, a Kindergarten teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, comforted her kids during the lockdown by reading to them. She wanted them to know that they were all going to be fine, as long as they are together. After leading them to the bathroom and hiding everyone there for a while, the police escorted all of the kids, all of whom were covering their eyes, to the firehouse nearby.
Chelsea J. Carter, author of this article, is a writer for CNN. This article is written during the weekend focusing around the second worst school shooting in US history. Other than the small community of Newtown, the whole nation is slowly absorbing what happened, stunned and wondering how the government will handle the even more controversial gun safety issue. The purpose of this article was to shed some light over the heroes in yet another horrible gun tragedy in the US. There is no particular audience for the piece other than the American public, since this truly should affect everyone and reveal a need for some serious reforms. A rhetorical element used in this article is appealing to emotions, otherwise known as pathos. In this technique, the author taps into the readers emotions, making them attached to the article. Carter applies this tactic very usefully, since my parents recommended me this article based on how "catchy" it was.