Final Essay

Karina Moy March 21, 2019 English P.3 Final Essay

Persuasive writing and speaking advance the progress towards social justice and equality. If someone speaks up to the problem that is addressed, more audiences will have a better idea as to what is going on and the reason why including a possibly a way to prevent anything from going further. Martin Luther King writes a letter in Birmingham Jail, to the Clergymen, explaining the situation the African Americans are going through and what he thinks needs to be done. Malala Yousefzai explains her experiencez in her Address to U.N Youth Assembly, with a terrorist and address the situation of not every child having the opportunity to attend school due to whatever reason(s) and what she plans doing about it. Julia Alvarez shares her family’s miserable lifestyle in Genetics of Justice while living in the Dominican Republic. Logos, Pathos, and Ethos are rhetorics that are used to help authors make their argument or message stronger. Logos is applying facts from the situation, Pathos is appealing to the reader's emotions, causing them to understand what you were feeling, and finally, Ethos puts emphasis on the writer knowing what they are speaking upon because of who they are. The Letter from Bermingham Jail made by Martin Luther King Jr. did the best job at explaining where his thoughts were and provide examples using all 3 rhetorics, making his speech stronger. The purpose of Malala Yousafzai sharing her speech was to advocate for women’s rights, education and free education all over the world for every child. Malala shares her experience and how it affected her, She explains upon the terrorist attempting to scare her in hopes of her not speaking up about education. In her speech, she stated, “Dear brothers and sisters, we want schools and education for every child’s bright future. We will continue our journey to our destination of peace and education. No one can stop us.” Yousafzai’s quote is an example of Pathos because it makes the reader think about how they feel about the topic of wanting to take away the right of education for their children. Malala speaks regarding the children having the best life regardless of their situation. “Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any terrorist group. I am here to speak for the right of education for every child. I wanted education for the sons and daughters of the Talib and all the terrorist and extremists. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there was a gun in my hand and he was standing in front of me, I would not shoot him. This is an example of Ethos because she explains the experience and even though she went through what she did, Malala still needs rights and education for the kids. I believe the author should’ve used more Logos to make her argument more credible. Malala connected with the audience and their feelings(pathos), also explains who she is and the encounter she went through (ethos). Yousafzai just needs logos to complete her speech.

King’s purpose to his opening letter from Bermingham Jail is to explain the need to act upon the segregation. Martin demonstrates PAthos by convincing the people that are being affected by what is going on. “Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber.” Once they secure and comfort the victims, they can punish the perpetrator(s). He places emotion of determination into the reader's mind. King stated, “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.” Martin describes how terrible Birmingham is becoming to strongly and bring attention to the fact of someone needing to take charge and do something about it, he was willing to be that person. He uses Logos by explaining, places of living are becoming unbearably negative and will become worse if no one acts upon it. The author is very successful in using all rhetorics. King appeals to the author’s emotions explaining how hopeless they will be if something does not change. He uses his credibility as an African American with ideas for society to make things better. Julia Alvarez’s purpose was to persuade the audience to speak up for Justice. Julia states, “The parade went hours in the hot sun until my mother was sure she was going to faint.” This is a model of Pathos because the author imagines themselves in her shoes, causing the reader to feel bad for Alvarez’s mother and the condition she had to be in. Adding on, Alvarez explains “If you did not march, your cedula would not be stamped, and without a stamped identification card, you could do nothing; in particular, you could not obtain your passport to leave the country under the pretext of wanting to study heart surgery.” This is a sample of Logos because Julia provides the cause and effect of the families not participating in the march. She explains the terrible conditions they are living in. To improve her purpose, Julia Alvarez should have used more Ethos and Logos. Most of the text was appealing to the reader's emotions on the experiences her and her family went through. In summary, Letter From Birmingham Jail by Marin Luther King Jr.’s letter is the best because he used all 3 of the rhetoric examples properly. He provided examples as to why he feels this way about segregation and discrimination. Using all the rhetorics made King’s argument stronger and dependable. Julia Alvarez, A Genetics of Justice provided a great impact of emotion to the reader but did not give facts or credibility as King did. Alvarez could have provided the background and details of the type of government that was in the Dominican Republic. She also could’ve stated facts, statistics, and numbers to strengthen her purpose. Also included an explanation as to who her family is to the country for again, credibility. U.N Youth Assembly Speech by Malala Yousafzai again, speak upon experiences and made the audience feel for her. She did not provide Logos like Letter from Birmingham Jail did. Malla should have used more Logos by explaining more about education all over the world. More information about the impact and difference it would make if every child had the opportunity to be educated. If both of the authors would have done this, their stories and thoughts would've been more reliable to the people. King impacted his audience by using rhetoric. He influences the world today. Because of King, there is no more segregation and people are more accepting than they

were in the past. Of course, there still is discrimination but King affected and will always have made an imprint in history because of his speeches.