In light of recent events regarding the Notre Dame Cathedral catching on fire in France, there has been an abundance of news cover on the event. One article, “Notre Dame fire strikes at the soul of France,” was posted by CNN on Monday, April 15th, explaing effects on the nation following the fire. The author of the article, David A. Andelman, utilized a devastating tone in order to emphasize the significance of the destruction and elicit sympathy from the audience. The author incorporates words, such as “catastrophic,” “soul of France,” and “fear,” that portray a depressing connotation. By doing so, the audience becomes aware of how gravely this has affected the people of France. He then goes on to include the French president’s actions following the news of the burning. By emphasizing on the president stopping everything and racing to the scene, the situation is portrayed as extremely intense and an important event in history. He wants to highlight that even someone as high up in society and busy as the president cared deeply, therefore, the audience should care deeply as well. He then explains the historical timeline behind the cathedral. This brings a story to the object, highlighting its setindiment and importance to France. This pushes the audience to show more sympathy towards the event, as it was a large part of the countries history, and now it is destroyed. This article is very compelling to the audience because it provokes empathy from them, as they feel the loss themselves, even if not directly correlated to France.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/15/opinions/notre-dame-fire-strikes-french-soul-andelman/index.html