Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis

        In the article “The Role of the Corporation in Supporting Local Development”, (2000) Muhammad Yunus writes that in the capitalist system, people only focus on making money which makes human beings too narrow and he thinks people should be treated equally. The conventional banks, owned by upper class, loan to rich men only, and give no opportunity to the poor;therefore, Yunus established a bank, the Granmeen Bank which focuses on the poor and gives opportunities that the poor have never had before. He uses ethos to persuade people that the poor should be treated as equally as the rich. I think Yunus does a great job using ethos to persuade the audiences.

        Yunus uses his own achievement and the example of the poor who get wealthy with his help, to make people reevaluate the way the society treats the poor and the rich.  Firstly, he shows his competence as the owner of the Granmeen Bank which has helped many poor and has been very successful. This experience of success overturned the society and disproved the idea that the poor cannot invest and benefit the business of the conventional banks as well as the rich. This allow the readers to rethink the way they think of the poor. Secondly, he uses the experience of the poor who became success with his help in order to persuade the readers that the poor simply need to be given an opportunity and with that opportunity they can achieve unexpected success.  

        I think Yunus’ use of ethos to support his idea is a great way to persuade the readers.  It gives people the opportunity to rethink the class-divided society that we live in. The author strives to persuade the readers to treat different people equally, which is the intention of his article.