Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. Persuasion within writing is an important tool to be utilized in order to garner support for one’s position. During the 1960s, equality between different races was a very controversial issue which required a certain finesse when being discussed. Martin Luther King demonstrated precisely this sort of finesse when writing about the racial injustices faced by black Americans, as well as when refuting the criticisms he faced from white clergymen.
Throughout the chapter, Machiavelli uses authoritative language to help convince the reader and prince that his ideas are worthy of being followed. “A prince must
King also uses metaphors to compare the stability of the two sides, being racial injustice and brotherhood, to help the audience and the opposing sides to see his point and see why he is correct. As he states in paragraph four, the quick sand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” Dr. King uses things that everyone knows about, quick sand and rocks, to demonstrate how injustice is a trap and very unstable whereas brotherhood is solid, stable, and safe. Similar to using quick sand and rock, he utilizes darkness and light to also compare discrimination and segregation. In paragraph four Dr. King says, “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”
In Cassius’s eloquent speech against Caesar, he primarily utilizes persuasion through tools such as pathos, rhetorical questions, and compare and contrast. Cassius uses pathos to begin his monologue when he claims, “I know that virtue be in you, Brutus, / As well as I do know your outward favor” (Shakespeare 1.2.95-96). By expressing that Brutus has “virtue” and “outward favor”, Cassius appeals to Brutus’s emotions, but not to an exaggerated extent. This emotional appeal is a persuasion technique because it is used in moderation and in pertinent locations. The context is appropriate since rather than using it as a tool to feed on Brutus’s emotions, Cassius only uses it to get Brutus’s attention as an appropriate hook.
Finally, Washington discloses in paragraph III, “A ship lost at sea.” Washington lastly compares a story to the whites who need help with hiring laborers by maneuvering anecdote. The message Washington is trying to state in paragraph III is that whites were looking for laborers but, were unsure on hiring the African Americans. Washington instantly believed if they can trust them while they were working for free, why shouldn’t they trust them now? Which enhances how Washington believes only hard work will earn them equality. The categories of rhetoric Washington employs is figurative language, such as juxtaposition, metaphor, and anecdote, which all helps enhances his
In the reading Just Walk on By by Brent Staples, the topic of racial stereotypes surfaces from the man who gets racially profiled quite often as he explains his personal experiences. The author bluntly tries to pass the message that racially judging people is wrong and explaining how it makes the other party ,african americans, feel. When analyzing Staples’ message his rhetorical strategies play a huge role into how his message is perceived. He uses influential diction allowing each word to give an impact unmatched by any white man who tried to convey a black man’s thought process. Staples also appeals to his credibility with the obvious observation that he is a black man talking about his real life experiences.
Taking a look back at paragraph 10, the picture that King paints stirs emotions within the reader. By describing the struggle and horrors that blacks go through, King makes the reader question the current system and why it’s the way it is. The “Letter From Birmingham Jail” is a strong piece of literature that sends an impactful message. He is able to justify all of his actions and effectively persuade the reader into siding with him.
The consistent appeal to the audience and their relationship to the MLF affirms their belief that he is a reliable source- and Wallace makes sure the audience understands he knows his own biases and misunderstanding in both the main portion of the essay as well as the footnotes. Footnote 6 is particularly important for judging the ethos of the writing. The audience sees the clear bias in the observations but rather than ignore his own preferences, Wallace explicitly states why he holds these views and that the audience should be aware of this, strengthening the trust between author and audience. He also uses the footnotes to build his own understanding and awareness of the topic. The footnotes serve as a both a break from the essay,
While contained at Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an open letter encouraging and defending a nonviolent approach to dealing with racism. Martin Luther King Jr. being known as a public figure who has impacted the way America as a whole treats African-Americans. Having lived through a time when his rights, as well as every person of color didn’t match to their fellow Americans, he felt the need to advocate. The letter has been considered as one of the best argument pieces, persuading and convincing many, due to diction and usage of rhetorical strategies.
In conclusion, both Malcolm X and Tommie Smith dealt with issues such as racism, poverty, and segregation in their struggles against social injustice and human suffering. Both novels give detailed accounts about the ethics of people in their respective time periods but whereas Malcolm X talked more about the perceptions of society and what they saw as true, Tommie Smith focused more on how his struggle affected him. However, despite these slightly contrasting ways in which the authors show their struggles, together they are extremely effective and thought provoking. By providing examples of their personal hardships that appeal to ethics, logic, and emotion, the authors brilliantly showcase the social problems of the past which still correlate to the
MLK did use pathos and ethos mainly in his letter to me too. I did find logos in his speech about the law being an unjust law and using definitions to aid his argument as well. He does write more emotionally. As far as persuading us to trust him as a leader, he does a good job of that. I like the way you mentioned building relationships with his supporters emotionally and how he is relatable to african americans trying to live in a white dominated society.
Throughout the reading, the author makes a conscious decision to make an initial distinction between the two prevailing racial ideological points of views in America; racial optimist and racial pesoptimist. The basis of the author’s argument is to use his term of “blind-racism” as a mechanism in which affluent whites have used to protect their own racial interest without risking being labeled as racist. The argument the author creates can be described as explicit because he provides a sufficient amount information to support each of his positions. For instance, Silva effectively uses statistical data to demonstrate how blacks and dark-skinned latinos are more likely to be subjected to racial profiling by police officers when compared their
In my experiences I have found that my role models have a huge impact on what I do and how I think. These people influence me to be who I am and add wisdom where I would normally be clueless. The black community is not the only group who needs to be educated about stereotyping, whites need to be educated as well. White people are often the ones using the stereotypes and for that reason they need to be informed of what they are doing. Once the white community realizes what they are doing they can make an effort, just like the blacks, to
He is telling when the best chance to run away if there are any possibilities of a possible conflict escalation. He is also mentioned what racism is. It is calling in rhetoric “pathos, ethos and logos.” The intention of the article is informing and persuade how people should do in these kinds of situations. When he is convincing trying to convince us, that everybody can do better than that.
I would describe “rhetoric” as the use of language in order to effectively express thought, and best convey a desired result to an audience given a specific context. I also agree with the idea that rhetoric attempts to “remedy misunderstanding” (I.A. Richards). The “rhetorical situation” is any situation where people are communicating, and is defined by a number of elements: rhetor, audience, purpose, context and strategies. The awareness of this concept definitely affects one’s writing and behaviors in that, it provides the best foundation to craft an engaging and effective piece of writing. If you have a keen awareness of who the audience of a text is, what the purpose of said text is, and have analyzed the best tool or mode to achieve that