Marie and Christopher are a couple who happily met at work during Chris’s first semester of college. Many of their coworkers believed that their relationship was weird, Marie was 28 years old and working for Home Depot for 5 years while Chris was an 18-year-old fresh out of high school just finding her way through college. Chris has always had a level head on her shoulders, knew what she wanted and worked hard to get it. She came from a family that always wanted her to follow her dreams and never held her back from being her true self. Marie’s family on the other hand never wanted her to leave, they kept her on lock and key causing her to rebel and do things that later in life she regrets. Marie believes that Christopher is her saving grace. Finally, Maire had someone who wouldn’t put her down like her family always had and would be there to love her as she tries to go on with what she thinks is a waste of time life. Christopher on the other hand has different ideas about life, she loves Marie with all her heart and sees that she has astounding qualities and believes that she can go back to school and follow her dreams. Christopher believes that Marie should ignore her parents and following her own dreams for once, she is 28 for goodness sakes they aren’t her boss anymore and Marie is in charge of her own life. This Dialog starts with Marie going to Christopher’s dormitory. After allowing Marie in Christopher goes back to sitting on her desk doing her English project one. Marie is frustrated with work again and thinks that because of her past mistakes that the best that she will ever get is the frustrating job of being an associate at the Pro desk for The Home Depot.
Christopher: Pumpkin, how was your day at work?
Marie: Oh, you mean the place where I get nowhere? The place that I will be stuck at forever because I didn’t go to college and I will get nowhere in life? Yeah well, it was great! I just have three people yelling at me all the time and then the managers came over and decided to fucking yell at me too! I hate this job, I just want to quit!
Christopher: Oh pumpkin, that isn’t true. You won’t be stuck at the Home Depot forever. You are smart, beautiful and fully capable of doing anything that set your mind to! You know that you could always go back to school and follow your dreams that you left behind. What was the reason that you flopped out of college anyway?
Marie: My parents. They wanted me to stay close to home, to go to the local college and get a criminal justice degree. But I dropped out my first semester, I told you I will not be going anywhere! You said it yourself, I dropped out of college, therefore I will be going nowhere with my life because I am too stupid.
Christopher: No Marie, you didn’t drop out because school just isn’t for you, or because you are stupid. You are smart in your own ways and are capable of doing amazing things. You were being held back by your parents and you were not allowed to reach your full potential. It has nothing to initially do with you. What if you had loving and caring parents who supported your decisions to go to a college to pursue your dreams of being a music teacher? Maybe then you would see that it wasn’t your fault. You wanted to get away from your parents and to rebel against them but fell into the trap that they laid for you, causing you to stay home and do stuff for them. Your money and effort all go to them and that is all that they want, without you they would be nothing Marie and you know that. You are capable of accomplishing many things you just don’t see because they bashed into you that you are a low life going nowhere which couldn’t be any further from the truth.
[Marie rolls her eyes at Christopher]
Marie: How does one have potential if all their life all they have been told is that they will get nowhere in life? I am a stupid person who will always live with their parents and never get anywhere in life. You don’t understand Christopher, I am 28 years old and I live with my parents have a cruddy job and can’t seem to get my life together. I barely have a savings and each time I move closer to getting my shit together I relapse like the idiot that I am and all I do is destroy your life, so I don’t even get why you even want to be with me!
Christopher: First of all, you are way more then a user who works for minimum wage at a retail store who lives with their parents. To be honest that makes up a small portion of who you actually are. You are a woman who loves the Office, to read, cuddle, and most important be there for people no matter what you, yourself, is going through. There have been countless times where you were the one who relapsed and needed the attention but because I was upset you put everything aside to care for me and to reassure me that you were okay and to try and make me smile again. You sit there and all you think is how horrible you are and repeat these horrible things that your step-father has said to you in the past but none of these are true. Yes, you struggle with substance abuse, but hundreds of others do, and hundreds have gotten through it. You will get through it, you can get clean and work hard and go back to school and get the education and certificates that you need to become a music teacher like you wanted originally. You don’t need to do it in the time frame that others have set for you. You are ONLY 28 years old, that is still a very young age. You are capable of such strong amazing things, and just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there Marie. We can work on this together, I can show you how I learned to save, I took personal financing courses, I can help you a little bit. Getting clean will be difficult, trust me I understand but you will get through it and there are plenty of places that you can go and receive help. With school it is almost never to late to go and follow a dream Marie, you are so young, and you are fully capable of going back to school and getting that degree and being a music teacher like you always want to be. There is always a way nothing is truly impossible when you put your mind to it.
Marie: Christopher I hope you know that I love you, and I am truly thankful for you and all that you do for me. I may be able to get clean and work on savings but there isn’t a single way that I will be able to afford going to college. It takes years to get a teaching certificate and all of those years cost lost of money, money that I just don’t have. Plus we are trying to move in together I need to work up my savings and allow it to go to taking care of us not getting a college education that I am not even sure will go anywhere. Who knows what will happen and it is just a complete waste of money that we just don’t have? Anyway, I am a drop out, no college will want a 28-year-old who is a drop out. Once a drop out always a drop out.
Christopher: I love you too, more than you actually can imagine. Though Marie, just because you dropped out doesn’t mean no college will want you. There are plenty of adults who dropped out of college and end up going back and completing their degrees and following their dreams. Yeah it takes years and lots of money to go back to college but let’s be honest all college students are broke. It is sadly a fact of life. If we went off of that track, that just because someone can’t afford college they shouldn’t be going to college, then technically I shouldn’t be going to college, because technically I can’t afford it. I got scholarships and my tuition was still about $7,000 for the entire year and I took out a loan but because next year may be even higher I guess I should just drop out because I cant afford to be going to college correct?
Marie: No! That isn’t what I meant, and you know that isn’t what I meant! You don’t just drop out of college just because you can’t afford it. No one your age can afford it Christopher that’s why they allow the loans. If you don’t go to college then you won’t become a math teacher and that is what you really want to do with your life! You need to follow your dreams and go after all that you want in life. You can’t just allow your current financial life to stop you, you will get through college and you will be able to pay off that debt and all will be fine.
Christopher: Pumpkin, that is the same case with you. You can take out loans and manage your money and savings so that way you can afford all you want. Not everything needs to happen right now, and you don’t need to have millions saved to buy a small home and afford to go to college. Yeah it will be tougher, but it isn’t impossible.
Marie: I am too old for college.
Christopher: To old for college? What is to old for college? There is no such thing as to old for college.
Marie: I am heading on to 30 years old Christopher. I want to settle down have children and own a home. I can’t afford to be going back 12 years and be going to college. That’s just not how it works Chris, I wish it was, but it isn’t once you hit a certain age there is no going back you just have to live with your mistakes.
Christopher: Never in my life have I heard such bullshit! It is never to late to go back and follow a dream that you really want! Fisher college, just here in Boston has over 40% of students who are over the age of 25. That is 4 years older than the iconic college graduation age. Would you tell them that they made a mistake? Would you not be proud that they went back and pursue their dreams and got that college degree? When they were trying to make the decision to be the oldest freshman in the group would you have told them that it is impossible that they shouldn’t do it? Marie what would you have told those people if they told you that they were to old to go back to college?
Marie: I would tell them to follow their dreams and finish that college degree.
Christopher: Then this is the same case with you Marie, you are only two years older then they are, two years isn’t that much time for something like this. If they could talk to you, they would say the same. It is never to late to go a follow a dream. When you are 28 you may be a full adult, but you haven’t reached the stage of not being able to change your life for the better. If I am being quite honest, I don’t think there is an age where you hit that point. You are only 28 years old you are a young adult with many years ahead of you, going to college and pursuing a dream is completely feasible and may actually be a good idea. You hate it at work, and you want to find something that you love because reality is you are going to have to work for many years after this and five years or so of college will be nothing when you get the job as a teacher and enjoy going to it most days. Which would you rather have five or so years of college and then a job you enjoy or being stuck at The Home Depot hating every second that you are there? It is truly your choice, Marie, but you need to think of the benefits rather then just knocking it all down because it seems to far out of reach.
Marie: Okay, maybe you have a point. I am not saying that I will be attending college but at least I can think about. Maybe once we are settled in a place and not so tight for money and working on getting clean then I can go back to school. Maybe just a maybe.
Christopher: That is fair. I agree with you need to be clean and stable and this is something that will most definitely be something that needs to be worked on before you go to become anything that will involve touching other people’s lives, especially children. But I know that is possible and you are a loving and caring person who has some faults and makes mistakes, but I truly believe that these are things that we can work on and you will be able to fix and truly be clean and better your life. If you want to wait till we are more settled then so be it, it will allow you to have more peace of mind while taking out a school loan and you will have a safe place to study and grow academically and physically. I will be here to help no matter what my love and I truly think that you are capable of achieving all that you put your mind to.
Marie: I love you Christopher and I truly hope you know that.

Rhetorical devices are used in basically all day to day life. The dialog of Crito, along with my dialog relied heavily on the use of pathos. In the case of my dialog this method was ideal since it was a couple arguing a topic that had a lot of past and present emotions tied to it. However, when Crito was trying to convince Socrates to allow him to bribe the authority to let Socrates go free, Crito should have used more logos, since his friend relies more on a logical point of view on the situations of life. When choosing what type of rhetorical devices to use, one must consider what type of device their audience will be convinced by more. After writing my own dialog I could see how the writer or speaker would favor particular rhetorical device, but I still believe that Crito didn’t do his “research” and think of what ways his friend would be convinced by his arguments. I believe that the only way Crito would have won that argument with Socrates would be if he took a more logical stance on the situation, appealing to Socrates love for everything logical. While reading Crito I found that an argument is really based on how your audience will take the information that you are giving them and that a skill to that allows your argument to be lasting is to appeal to your audience’s way of thinking. If I was Socrates friend, I would have little to no pathos in my argument and based all my points on logos to appeal to the way Socrates believes the world works. By realizing this, when writing my dialog, I made sure that I would base my points on the ways that my fiancé thinks. Marie the character that is based off my fiancé thinks with her heart which has been broken many times by her parents who were disapproving. As Christopher, my character, develops her points on why Marie should follow her dreams and go back to college, I took into consideration that Marie would need the love and compassion more then the logical reasons that going to college may be a good idea. Crito by Plato shows a learning rhetorical writer that audience, when giving an argument, may be the deciding factor on how you present your information.