On Likability by Lacy M. Johnson

Lacy M. Johnson talks about her childhood in “On Likability”. She first talks about her daughter and how no one likes her in school. This leads to Lacy talking about what was going on during her childhood. She went through so much during her childhood and it made her stronger. Lacy said that she would do things to be liked and she learned that it shouldn’t be that way. Trying to be liked can lead to some bad things because you might be doing things that you don’t even feel comfortable with and that’s how Lacy did when she was younger. She realized that powerful women are the ones that are not liked because they are independent and they have fought and gone through things.

In her essay, ethos is portrayed because Lacy explains how when she was a younger girl, she would do many things to be liked by someone but she later found out that she got taken advantage of. Lacy explains throughout her essay that people should be able to speak their own truth and don’t be quiet. In her essay she also says “There will always be some people who won’t like what you have to say.” She is talking about her story that she wrote and how there are people who will not like what she wrote. Lacy later says that it is alright if we are not likable, we shouldn’t care what other people say about us, we should be able to tell our truth. She mentioned stories that have impacted her life and made her the person she is today. Throughout her whole essay, she included her daughter and what was going on during her life and it led to Lacy talking about her stories like I said earlier. She was telling her stories because she realized that she deserved better and that doing things for other people just to be liked can lead to many bad things. 

Throughout her essay logos are applied, Lacy uses sources such as her childhood memories and current events that were happening in her life. Her main argument is that no person should do something such as try to be likable because of a person. Lacy uses evidence when she was younger because she wanted to be with a guy she had a crush with. She later realized that no one should change or do anything to just be liked by someone. Lacy says that you should just be yourself and don’t ever change into someone else. Sometimes people feel pressured to do something because of other people. Lacy felt the same way when she was younger and she regrets doing things for those people. In her essay she says “I have made so many mistakes. And I experience those mistakes I have made as a burning shame.” She later on says “the pressure to be likable keeps us from doing this hard work, keeps us from telling the truth.” This means that we sometimes do things to the point that we are just lying to ourselves about the way we are.

Pathos was also introduced in Lacy’s essay. She included many things for the audience to feel connected. For example, she included her daughter and how she was not liked by others. She mentioned that her daughter would sit alone which made the reader feel sad about her daughter. Lacy also mentioned what she went through such as being forced to do something by a guy she had a crush on and this probably triggered some people. She said “I agreed to doing things I didn’t really want to do that night because I had been taught somewhere along the way that it was a blessing to be liked by a man…”. She also explained about how she was being physically abused by someone. It made the reader feel bad about the times Lacy was being treated badly. She tried to be someone that she wasn’t. When she released her memoir, she also received some criticism and it talked about how she was not likable. Lacy mentioned that people such as women who tell the truth and so on that they are not likable. 

Overall ethos, logos, and pathos were mentioned throughout the whole essay. Lacy provided a reason why you shouldn’t be taken over by a person. She included real events that happened in her life. Most importantly, it connected to the audience because of what she went through. In the end, Lacy feels happy and she enjoys her life. She was able to love herself the way she is today.