Cesar Chavez's Justification Of Nonviolence Essay

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Ten years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, Cesar Chavez (A civil rights leader) writes a rallying article against violence. Chavez also promotes nonviolence (not coincidentally during the 10-year anniversary of Dr. King’s death) and aims to persuade his audience of its effectiveness against oppression. By justifying nonviolence, understanding violence, and describing the uses of nonviolence, Chavez persuades his audience to utilize nonviolence instead of violence. Chavez’s justification of nonviolence, through the use of repetition, is his first step in persuasion. In repeating “we” multiple times throughout the paragraph, can, metaphorically speaking, put everyone under the same umbrella. When under the same umbrella, Chaves can link this group of people to certain …show more content…

Chavez generalizes that masses of people have involved “in their own struggle throughout the movement “and free men and women “instinctively prefer democratic change to any other means,” which is “our best way of avoiding senseless violence.” By doing so, Chavez creates the idea of organized protest as both peaceful and effective, and therefore, makes nonviolence better than violence. To back these generalizations, Chavez uses Gandhi’s credibility. He paraphrases Gandhi in saying that boycott is the “most nearly perfect instrument of change.” Overall, Chavez makes a generalized claim that is easily rational, but locks it down with a quote from the famous nonviolent advocate Gandhi. This ultimately explains how nonviolence is effective, justifies it, and makes it more favorable than violence. Chavez’s use of repetition, generalizations, and credibility effectively persuades everyone of nonviolence. In using multiple strategies, he constantly provides ways of nonviolence’s betterment compared to the pitfalls plaguing violence, and does so,

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