Cofer effectively uses ethos to make her credible to her audience, successfully making them understand her frustration towards the prejudice she oftenly faces. Firstly, when describing how she reacted towards the Irish man, she states, “I managed my version of an English smile: no show of teeth, no extreme contortions of the facial muscles” (Cofer Paragraph 1), gaining credibility through her use of cultural allusion. She alludes to the known characteristic that the British have a very reserved smile. Cofer’s mentioning of this known characteristic gains credibility because she shows that she knows her white audience’s culture. She uses this to express how she is trying hard to fit in, yet people like the Irishman do not try to see Cofer as part of their society. This makes the audience see how…show more content… Here, Cofer uses personification and the rewording of a known cliché to appeal to her audience. Cofer uses the rewording of a known cliché and personification to emphasize her frustration towards the prejudice she faces. First, she alters the cliché “You can leave the island but the island can’t leave you” to add detail about mastering the language and her attempt to assimilate. Because people know the cliché, the audience can easily relate to her. Secondly, personifying the Island stating, “the Island travels with you” (Cofer Paragraph 1) she emphasizes how often people only focus on what makes her different, and how hard it is for her to be seen as part of society. She combines the two strategies to convey how no matter how hard she tries to gain acceptance, people only see how different she is, therefore expressing her