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Daniela Grgas
Yeaton
English 10 H Pre-AP, Period 6
9 February 2018
Columnist Analysis and Response: Ross Douthat
Citation

Douthat, Ross. “Opinion | The Necessary Immigration Debate.” The New York Times, The New

York Times, 5 Feb. 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/opinion/sunday/neces

saryimmigration-debate.html.

Part Two: Article Analysis

Ross Douthat, an opinion columnist for The New York Times, focused his piece “The

Necessary Immigration Debate” on the impact of diversity that derives from immigration.

Douthat offers his opinion that the United States should seek a “middle ground” in order to

ensure the quality of our workforce with the cooperation of the rising generation, the millennials.

Douthat also ties in the effects of our government’s presence and effect on immigration, while

acknowledging different point of views on how cultural diversity can positively and negatively

effect social cohesion, specifically expanding on minorities. All of these factors presented by

Douthat lead to his opinion that there should be a continual flow of immigration to maintain a

hard-working class.

Tone: Douthat expresses his opinion through a matter-of-fact, blunt tone to give the audience a

realistic view on the process of immigrants going into the workforce, and the honest effects of

cultural diversity.
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Context: In order to understand the content of Douthat’s article, the reader needs a basic

understanding of the immigration crisis as well as the polarization of classes in the United States.

“The Necessary Immigration Debate” is a response to the social issue of immigration, and how

President Trump along with our government is handling it.

Appeals: The most prominent appeal found in Douthat’s piece is the appeal to ethos. Douthat

delivers his article in first-person, and he includes himself as a part of the audience which allows

the reader to feel as if they have the same or similar viewpoint/understanding as Douthat. There

is a limited use of pure factual evidence; however, Douthat does include appeals to pathos when

sympathizing the fact that immigrants are “working long hours for low wages while living in

crowded houses” (Douthat 2).

Strategies and Devices: A major writing strategy found in “The Necessary Immigration Debate”

is Douthat’s use of syntax. His opinions are showcased in paragraphs that are very short in length

then information on specific topics is then presented in lengthy paragraphs. Moreover, Douthat

includes similes in his writing in order to make comparisons that are easy for the reader to

understand; for example, he wrote, “negotiating with restrictionists is therefore like negotiating

with flat-earthers” (Douthat 1).

Organization: The article follows a cause and effect pattern as well as comparing and contrasting

the roles of immigration in America.

Diction/Word Choice: The wording of the article is very scholarly and precise, and can be hard

to understand. Words such as “bigotry”, “triumphalism”, and “xenophobia” can alter your

understanding of Douthat’s message if you don’t understand the definition.

Part Three: Personal Response

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In general, I enjoy Douthat’s writing style because you gain personal insight to his

opinions, and he does well when getting straight to the point. In my opinion, I believe that his

views on immigration should have been presented at the beginning of the article rather than

providing his claims in the latter half of the piece. Moreover, his facts are more so observations

which I believe is really neat that he includes that over factual evidence because the evidence he

backs his claims up with are things we have seen for ourselves online or on the news. If I could

ask for anything from Douthat’s writing, it would be to be clearer on certain topics or to

organized the paragraphs in ways that only one subject is highlighted at a time. Douthat’s

opinions have given me thoughts on how I think it would be right to treat the immigration crisis

myself.