The Art of Persuasion

"Please? Please! May I?" the young girl pleads. It was just like what I did to get my sister Hannah out of trouble when she yelled.

I went in with a strategy formed in my brain. I had to make sure I was respectful to my parents at all times. First, I told my parents that I understood where they were coming from with their punishment. Then, I nicely asked if I could make a revision. Hunt was granted the privilege of an "alone" date at the movie theatre many years before Hannah and I. I asked if he could go with a group to chaperone the couple. I also asked if they would take away Hannah's grounding for berating Hunt. she yelled at Hunt not our parents. Hannah did have a right to be angry after all. She was upset that she was being babied while Hunt- two years below her- had more freedom. I told our parents to apologize to Hannah for hurting her feelings and that all of them should explain themselves and move on. My strategy to change my parents' mind was a lot like the one Haemon used to change Creon's, his father, mind in Antigone, written by Sophocles. Haemon also built up his father's confidence-as evidenced by lines 644-647.

"Father, I am yours, and as you have me,

You guide the best course for me to follow

No marriage will ever be more important to

me than justly carrying out your precepts."

When I went in complimenting my parents' punishment for Hannah, I mimicked Haemon's plot. Haemon, too, respected his father's authority-as evidence by lines 697-699.

" I don't how I could say you don't

Speak correctly,  but sometimes another

Man's opinion is also right."

When I discussed my discretions with my parents' sentence, I too used my manners and a respectful tone to make my tries for releasing Hannah more prone to success. 

My efforts to save Hannah from her unjust punishment were a success. My parents followed through with my advice, and they did not think I spoke out of turn. Hannah was happy with the results, and Hunt was not angry with his freedom being suddenly limited. My plan worked because I kept a respectful tone to my voice. I asked permission to edit my parents' verdict and used manners through the whole discussion. It also worked because I compromised. I didn't say everything my parents said was rubbish, and I based my opinions on Hannah's feelings and thoughts.

My parents were more willing than Creon, but it still took effort and thought to sway them. In the end, however, I won them over.