Natalia Espino--rhetorical Analysis Essay

Natalia Espino  March 22nd, 2019  English ll    Rhetorical Analysis Essay    Persuasive writing and speaking advance the progress towards social  justice and equality by giving the readers real worldwide information on what is  going on and to bring awareness of the cruelties that are brought to innocent  people around the world. Throughout the three texts of “A Genetics of Justice” by  Julia Alvarez, “ Letter to Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and “ U.N  Youth Assembly Speech” by Malala Yousafzai, all talk about the horrible events  that happened that had happened to them, and want to let the people know that  a person should never stay quiet for something that they believe in, regardless of  the consequence. The use of ethos, pathos, and logos helped each author push  their purpose by helping the readers connect to them and help them feel what  they felt throughout that time period of their life(use of pathos), also by  connecting their purposes to people from the past that help a high position in  this world to help them show how important their argument was(use of ethos),  then finally by appealing to the logic of the readers and helping them be aware  of what they were trying to say to the world(use of logos). Malala Yousafzai did  the best job in advancing her purpose by going in-depth and into detail with  what she went through, she connecter her argument to real life situations, and  she also uses respectable and honorable people from the past to support what  she was saying to the people in the U.N Assembly.  Martin Luther king's purpose was to address concerns of the clergyman  and to convince them that he should be in Bermingham protesting. King uses  rhetoric to advance his purpose in the second half of his letter to show how he  can use his use of wording to prove his side of the argument. For example in the  text, King talks about his position as a person in the church, in the text it states " I  say it as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its  bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true  to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen”(King 9). This piece of evidence 

showcases Dr. King’s use of rhetoric to advance his purpose by showing the use  of ethos when he is referring himself as a high person in the church, giving the  clergyman a reason to see him differently if he himself sees himself as a big part  of the church, connecting to the clergyman since that is also their position. In the  text, King also again talks about his relationship towards the clergyman. In the  text, it states "I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to  meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader but as a fellow  clergyman and a Christian brother"(King 12). This piece of textual evidence also  showcases King’s use of rhetoric to advance his purpose by the use of ethos  when he again referred to himself as someone who the clergyman should believe  that os one of them. This quote also supports King's purpose because he had  made a connection to the people is trying to get into contact with, he is trying to  say that he understands their side of the argument and is taking into  consideration everything that they are saying. King has an open mind to the  entire problem that is going on. The author was successful with the use of  rhetoric by the fact that within time things started to change in Alabama and  minds were opened about the topic of segregation.  In a Genetics of Justice by Julia Alvarez, her purpose is to persuade her  audience to speak up for justice. At the beginning of the text, she talks about the  situation that her mother had gone through while she was a child under the  leadership of Generalissimo Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and the type of leader that  he was. This is shown when Alvarez says, “Trujillo was known to have an appetite  for pretty girls, and once his eye was caught, there was no refusing him. My  mother must have been intrigued. She knew nothing of the horrid crimes of the  dictatorship”(Alvarez 1). This event advances her purpose by giving Alvarez a  bigger reason on why she wrote this essay explaining the horrible things that  when on in the Dominican Republic. Also to make the audience aware of the  horrible person Trujillo was, by use of pathos, Alvarez is making the feeling of  disgust noticeable in her writing and help the audience feel the way she felt.  Alvarez also goes to say that after all the time that her mother was afraid to  speak up due to the fear of getting attacked again she was able to accept  everything and be proud of her daughter for writing the essay about what  happened in the Dominican Republic. This is shown when Julia says “-I don't care 

what happened to us! I'm so proud of you for writing this book’ “(Alvarez 6). This  event advances her purpose through the use of pathos by showing the readers  that her mother was blinded by the type of person that Trujillo was but once  shown his true colors, she was disgusted and didn't want to open her mouth. But  due to time and healing, she was finally able to accept everything and finally be  proud of her daughter's accomplishments. Alvarez was also quite successful with  the use of rhetoric for the fact that the book made changes in people's lives, and  made aware of the horrible things that went on in the Dominican Republic.  Malala Yousafzai's purpose for her speech that was given at the U.N  Assembly was to advocate for women's rights’, education and free education all  over the world for every child. Throughout her speech, she gives the reader many  reasons on why she made her speech the way she did. For example, in her  speech, she talks about how the Taliban tried shooting at her and her friends  when she tried standing up for what was right. She says, “they thought that the  bullets would silence us, but they failed. And out of that silence thousands of  voices. The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions.  But nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear, and hopelessness  died. Strength, power, and courage were born” ( Malala 5). This piece of evidence  shows the use of pathos by showing the readers the feeling of empowerment that  happened after she got shot at but that didn't stop her from reaching her goal of  trying to get education to every man, woman, and child. This quote helped  advance her purpose by informing the readers that the biggest obstacle can  come in your path but it shouldn't stop you from reaching what you want to  accomplish. Also in her speech, she mentions how a pen and a book is more  powerful than any man-made weapon. It states “The wise saying, ‘The pen is  mightier than the sword.’ it is true. The extremist is afraid of books and pens. The  power of education frightens them”(Malala 8). This quote shows the use of pathos  by making the audience see the realization of what truly wins in a battle and not  every gun wins just because it is a gun. This quote advances Malala’s purpose by  informing people about the real reason why the Taliban in Pakistan do not let  woman and kids have their education. Which gives her more of a reason to stand  up and do what is right, no matter what consequence. Malala was very successful  with the use of rhetoric for the fact that she made an impact on many people in 

not only the US but also in her home town of Pakistan, she made people open  their eyes on the topic of education for women in her country. She had two  countries come together and help the problem that was going on. She was only  15 years old when all these traumatic events happened, but surpassed them and  stood up for what she truly believed in.  Overall, all three authors, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Julia Alvarez, and  Malala Yousafzai did amazing jobs on talking about what they believed in and  making it public to the people of the world, but Malala Yousafzai did the best  with making an impact to the world by connecting all of her evidence to the  feeling of the audience and/or using people from the past that had high  honorable titles to them to help make her argument stronger by connecting their  arguments with one another. All authors were successful at demonstrating how  persuasive writing and speaking advances the progress towards social justice  and equality by all talking about standing up and speaking up for what is right,  but they all did it in their own unique way with different impacts but having the  moral of the story being for people to speak up and be the person to make a  change in this world.