Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Jevohn Jasper 3/26/19 Rhetorical Analysis Essay Persuasive writing and speaking advances the progress towards social justice and equality because it can make others believe what you have to say. Some example of this are from some historical texts, such as those from Martin Luther King Jr. and what he did when he was stuck in a jail cell in Birmingham: write a letter to his fellow clergymen explaining why he did this and why it should be allowed. Julia Alvarez made an article about speaking up for justice after she learned about what happened to her parents and many others in the Dominican Republic during the reign of Rafael Trujillo. Another example of this is a speech given by Malala Yousafzai in which she is advocating for women’s rights and girls education. Both King's letter and Yousafzai’s speech had great usage of Ethos Pathos and Logos in them. Alvarez does an excellent job of going through what she went through and not skipping over everything, making sure we understood everything and knew what was going on. I believe King’s letter is the best because it had better example of Ethos Pathos and Logos. The first example is of Yousafzai’s speech. The purpose of this speech was to advocate for women’s rights and girls education all over the world. In the text, we see Malala talk about how she’s fighting for people who cannot fight for themselves. One quote she uses says “But first of all, thank you to God for whom we all are equal...recover my strength.” This shows ethos because it creates a sense of sympathy towards the audience. Another quote she uses says “Today I am focusing on women’s rights and girls education because they are suffering the most.” This shows an example of pathos because she is from a country that does not have a lot and girls/women had little to no education. This speech by Malala was very successful because more and more places around the world are granting women and girls free education and equal rights. Another example is Julia Alvarez’s article about the Dominican Republic. Her purpose in her article was to encourage her audience to speak up for justice. Alvarez talks about her mother’s experiences as a child and how they show what type of leader Trujillo was. She says in the text “Perhaps it was because I was spared at ten, from the dictatorship my parents went endured most of their lives. I often imagine what it must have been like to…” This advances her purpose by showing us that her parents lived in a dictatorship under him and she was “spared” which shouldn’t be happening and this is an example of ethos because it makes her audience worry about the people in the Dominican Republic because they weren’t treated right. Another quote is when she says “When my sisters and I cared too much about our appearance, my mother would tell us how Trujillo’s vanity knew no bounds.” This advances her purpose because she talks about how Trujillo would take young girls. I believe her article was successful because she makes her mother proud that she spoke up about this situation, which she was not happy about her doing before.

My final example is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter while he was in a jail in Birmingham. His purpose in his letter was to address his fellow clergymen. Dr. King talks about how we are all equal and how we will forgive the whites no matter what they did. On the first page, he says “I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time…” This statement advances his purpose because he’s telling the clergymen that not everyone has a good will and the ones who don’t are taking advantage of the law and this shows an example of ethos because he makes the readers aware of how people are not following the law and may be using them in a negative way. Another quote Dr. King uses is when he says “We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal win of God are embodied in our echoing demands.” This advances his purpose because he says they’ll get their freedom because of the way the nation was changing and because the had God on their side and this shows pathos because Dr. King is connecting religion back into his argument to make the clergymen believe him. So, in conclusion, Dr. King’s letter from Birmingham jail was the best because of the impact it would eventually have on the country. Also, it uses tons of example of ethos pathos and logos, and they’re all very good. Malala’s speech was also very good and had lots of examples of E/P/L, and Alvarez did a great job of keeping her article in order so everyone knew what was happening.