Logical fallacies in the story
Dicto Simpliciter Hasty generalization Post hoc Contradictory premises Ad Misericordiam (Appeal to pity) False analogy Hypothesis contrary to fact Poisoning the well (Ad Hominem)
Writing Style
Max Shulman has a good style. The story goes forward at a fast pace with racy dialogues full of American colloquialism and slang. He employs a whole variety of writing techniques to make his story vivid. He use ultra learned terms to reveal the conceit of the narrator and clipped vulgar forms to illustrate Polly Espy’s limited intellectual capability. He also use figurative language profusely and inversion for emphasis. The speed of the narration is maintained by the use of short sentences, elliptical sentences and dashes throughout the story. The combination of all these help to make the story realistic, as one would expect a freshman to talk like that.
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Analyze the logic fallacy in each of the following statements
6. Religion obviously weakens the political strength of a country. After all, Rome fell after the introduction of Christianity. 7. We should discount what Premier Klein says about taxation because he won’t be hurt by the increase. 8. A society is free if and only if liberty is maximized and people are required to take responsibility for their actions. 9. You say I shouldn’t drink, but you haven’t been sober for more than a year. 10. Employees are like nails. Just as nails must be hit in the head in order to make them work, so must employees.
About the story
The narrator of the story is Dobie Gills, a freshman in a law school who is proud of his logic reasoning and general intellectual capability. Dobie Gills grapples with Petey Bellows, whose girlfriend he hopes that he can persuade to give up and Polly Espy, Petey’s girlfriend he intends to marry after he has improves her. He is quite sure of his final success because he is smarter and it is only logical that the girl will choose him. However, the result is a great surprise to him because the girl turns down his proposal and choose Petey Burch, all because of what Dobie Gills regards as a “silly reason”, thus proving that “Love is a fallacy”.
Rhetorical devices in the story
1. 2. Inversion (Cool was I and logical. // Beautiful she was. Gracious she was. Intelligent she was not. ) Metaphor (My brain, that precision instrument, slipped into high gear.) Rhetorical question (What’s Polly to me, or me to Polly?) Simile (My brain was as powerful as a dynamo, as precise as a chemist’s scale, as penetrating as scalpel.) Hyperbole (It is not often that one so young has such a giant intellect.) Ellipsis (Same age, same background, but dumb as an ox.)
Love Is a Fallacy
By Max Shulman
About the author
Max Shulman(1919-1988): one of America’s best-known humorists. Max is a writer of many talents---he has written novels, stories, Broadway plays, movie scenarios, and television scripts. The present text is taken from The Many Loves of Dobie Gills(1951). Dobie Gills, the narrator , is a typical American teen who frequently suffers from romantic angst. The character appeared on a popular televion sitcom during the 1950s and was in a feature film in 1953.

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Rhetorical devices in the story
7. Metonymy (She was, to be sure, a girl who excited the emotions. But I was not one to let my heart rule my head.) 8. Antithesis (It is, after all, easier to make a beautiful dumb girl smart than to make an ugly smart girl beautiful.) 9. Analogy (It was like digging a tunnel. At first, everything was work, sweat, and darkness. … But I persisted. I pounded and clawed and scraped, and finally I was rewarded. I saw a chink of light. And then the chink got bigger and the sun came pouring in and all was bright.) 10. Understatement (It must not be thought that I was without love for this girl.)
Exercise Analyze the logic fallacy in each of the following statements
1. I asked six of my friends what they thought of the new spending restraints and they agreed it is a good idea. The new restraints are therefore generally popular. Immigration to Alberta from Ontario increased. Soon after, the welfare rolls increased. Therefore, the increased immigration caused the increased welfare rolls. If I had studied harder, I would definitely have passed that test. Watching television is a waste of time. We hope you’ll accept our recommendations. We spent the last three months working extra time on it.