Syllogism

Sarah Snell

Frances Thorpe

DefinitionSyllogism refers to a three-step

deductive argument that moves logically from a major and a minor premise to a conclusion. A traditional example is "All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal."

a subtle or deceptive piece of reasoning

Pronunciationsil-uh-jiz-uh m http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/s

yllogism

Literary Examples1. A subtle piece if reasoning was found in the Lord of the

Flies. It’s main point that it’s not nature that corrupts us is humanity was found only by analyzing the symbolism.

2. In Wuthering Heights, another subtle message was that maybe Catherine really loved Edgar, her husband, as much as she loved Heathcliff because she took a lock of both of their hair to the grave.

3. In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez there was subtle messages such as when Yolanda gets attacked by the crow in the mind when in the mental hospital. The crow symbolizes all the dark things in her life.

Literary Analysis1. Syllogism is used to convey the authors point

through symbolism. The author’s purpose is to tell the main point without giving it in simplistic terms.

2. The small things that Catherine does also suggests that she loves her husband as well and the author’s purpose was to make Catherine’s relationships more complicated and the story deeper.

3. When Yolanda get attacked by the crow it is a subtle message for something more important in her life. The author’s purpose was to help the reader understand how much Yolanda was affected.