Rhetoric Essay

Albert Arroyo Honors English Period 3 Persuasive writing can impact the way people think and can mold their mind to believe and see certain things they couldn't before. A persuasive maneuver can change someone's opinion. King wanted to persuade the clergymen to think like him and Alvarez wants the audience to speak up as well as mala wants to fight for women's rights. These people all used persuasion to fight for people's rights. King's letter was the most successful in persuasion as his use of rhetoric is extensive and it advances his purpose as he used every example of rhetoric in his letter. King's letter used the most rhetoric and the different kinds to persuade the audience. King's purpose of writing the letter is to defend from racism without violence. His purpose is the adjust the clergymen's thinking as he is also a clergyman. In the text it says "Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust" This quote relates to logos since a sense of morality can change the way someone thinks. Another example of logos is on page 4 when it says "we know through experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor." This would mean that freedom is a necessity and should not be voluntary. A example of ethos would be on page 5 when it says "who can say that the legislature of alabama which set up the segregation laws was democratically elected." This quote means that the legislature has authority over the people when deciding on segregation. Malala Yousafzai's speech uses rhetoric to advance her purpose. Her purpose is to strike fear into the taliban as they failed to silence a huge voice. An example of this could be when Yousafzai says "I speak without a voice but so those without a voice can be heard. This advances her purpose by explaining how her voice is not just for her own sake but rather for everyone that don't have rights. When yousafzai says " Malala day is not my day today is the day of every woman, every boy...". This quote advances my purpose since she tells us that she is speaking out for everyone that couldn't and this shows rhetoric by applying to ones feeling about not being able to speak out themselves. Malala is fighting against violence even if she has gone through violent experiences as she states " This is the philosophy of nonviolence that i learned from Gandhi...". This example advances my purpose as she uses rhetoric to show authority of her intention that would be similar to figures of peace. These example prove her purpose by exposing how her voice can change others ideologies. In genetics of justice by Julia Alvarez her purpose is to speak up against the dictator in colombia named Rafael G. Trujillo. In the beginning of the text we see how Alvarez's mother was initially brainwashed of how Trujillo depicted as she says " as a young girl my mom must of thought that "El Jefe" is some kind of movie star. This event advances her purpose bby showing how people did not really know the dictators true intentions as they were covered up. Then Alvarez goes on to describe how her mother did not want to speak out against as she began to notice more and more negative things about him as said "she knew all about the true nature of the dictatorship. This proves her purpose as Alvarez begins to describe how the dictatorship

really affects the country and the people. Finally Alvarez begins to speak up as she describes the atrocities that trujillo has caused as described as "thousands have lost their lives in failed attempt to return...". This evidence advances her purpose since she is speaking up on how the citizens that want to leave the country were not allowed to even leave the country. King's letter still proves to be more persuasive than the other documents. His use of rhetoric advances his claim by telling the audience what is right and wrong and using Rhetoric to make them think about it in different perspectives. King's letter uses all forms of rhetoric while Alvarez focuses on Pathos and Mala focuses on Logos and Pathos. The letter that king wrote was a lengthier read which allowed for the audience to experience more of his use of rhetoric. King was far more successful in persuading the clergymen as segregation is no longer a problem while with Malala she is still fighting her battle and Alvarez did not succeed as well as King did.