In identifying ways to create inclusive spaces in the classroom, instructors should not be limited by singular modes of discourse to engage students. Particularly when teaching first-year students who seek to invent the university and claim their intellectual space within it, these considerations must be deeply integrated into the course curriculum and not seen as an extended project to be optional or added at the end of a semester. Rather, instructors must find ways to integrate multimodal discourses in the first-year composition course as a foundation of learning. One way to do this is to engage students in multimodal practices of rhetorical appeals. This dissertation examines the theories and practices of emotional appeal, namely "pathos," to construct meaning-making opportunities that transcend gatekeeping endeavors of singular modes of persuasion. Through the transmission of affect, students can be given the opportunity to affectively respond through various modes of discourse in applying emotional appeal to practices of persuasion. Identifying the unique rhetorical elements that exist through each mode of discourse, including audio and visual modes, can provide students with the agency in addressing hidden narratives and concepts of representation, eliminating the exclusion of certain discourses through social and civil codes of discourses of safety. Healing can be done through a multimodal lens of rhetorical practice, and engaging students in the inclusivity of multimodality provides them with a firm foundation for agency and voice within the writing classroom. Uncovering the unique rhetorical elements of various modes of discourse can provide contexts for inclusivity that can transcend barriers of comprehension as students affectively respond to what they engage with through multimodal persuasive discourse through the subjective context of the emotional appeal. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]