Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Merwa Alhindi 03/21/19 Throughout history there have been many issues that have failed to be talked about whether it’s regarding something such as racism or extending across areas concerning a country’s economic and social decisions. In situations such as these, speaking up or writing about the issue can be very difficult but helps create awareness. Vocalizing these problems of social justice and equality can advance the progress of finding a solution. In ​Genetics of Justice by Julia Alvarez, the ​Address to U.N. Youth Assembly​ given by Malala Yousafzai, and the ​Letter From Birmingham Jail​ by Martin Luther King Jr., all three of these authors advance their purpose by using rhetoric. Alvarez uses rhetoric to advance her purpose of encouraging her audience to speak up for justice by explaining her family's experience with dictatorship in their country. Similar to Alvarez’s efforts, Yousafzai also uses ethos, pathos, and logos, to advocate for women’s rights and the education of children that has been an absent factor of her country. Lastly, King uses these forms of rhetoric to respond to the Clergymen and receive their permission to protest against the segregation and racism of the time. Of these three authors mentioned, I believe King does the best job using all examples of rhetoric due to the depth of his letter and the reliability he has towards his motive. Over the course of the text ​Genetics of Justice​, Alvarez makes clear of her purpose to persuade her audience to speak up for justice by using her personal experiences. Given that Alvarez was only ten at the time, the text speaks mostly about her parents experience of dictatorship in their country. ​To start off the text, Alvarez introduces her mother, who had a deep admiration for the dictator of the time, as she was unaware of his wrongdoings. As stated on page 1, "My mother must have been intrigued. She knew nothing of the horrid crimes of the dictatorship." Using her mother's initial praise towards Trujillo, Alvarez advances her purpose by communicating that the eventual realization of the dictator's true character would cause her mothers need to speak up against him.​ Later on in the text, Alvarez explained the trauma of the dictatorship and how it affected her mother. As stated in the text, “The day came when my mother had to march. The parade went on for hours in the hot sun until my mother was sure she was going to faint. Her feet were swollen and hurting. The back of her white dress was damp with sweat” (Alvarez 3).​ ​Recounting her mother's difficulties advances Alvarez's purpose because she brought to attention that the conditions her mother was forced to march in had dire consequences. Women were near fainting and Trujillo was the reason for it all. Given her experience, Alvarez's mother soon has more reasons and a deeper need to be vocal about the injustice. Alvarez's use of the sequence of events in the text was somewhat successful but lacked a few things. It was unclear of her purpose at points because the text sounded much more like a story being told rather than her intended purpose being communicated. Through the entirety of her speech to the U.N. Youth Assembly, Yousafzai brings to light her purpose of advocating for women’s rights and the education for girls and all children. Yousafzai uses many examples of pathos and a few of logos throughout her speech to advance her purpose and gain the sympathy of those in her audience. Yousafzai begins her speech by express her religion and sense of pathos. On page 1 Yousafzai states, " In the name of God, the most beneficent, the most merciful." Through this quote Yousafzai is using God and religion to

create a sense of peace towards her audience and gain their sympathy for her cause. As the speech goes on, Yousafzai begins to explain her reasoning for speaking for the silenced people of her country and other suffering countries. On page 1 Yousafzai also states, " I speak not for myself, but so those without a voice can be heard." By saying this, Yousafzai is using logos to further advance her purpose. She is communicating that if the oppressed can't speak for themselves, someone must speak for them. This advances Yousafzai's purpose by explaining her reasoning for advocating for women and conveying Yousafzai's leadership in this process. Yousafzai’s use of majority of the forms of rhetoric was successful but she lacked in her use of ethos. There was little to no appeal to credibility and much more of an appeal to emotions. In the last of the three texts, the Letter From Birmingham Jail, King communicates his purpose of not only responding to the Clergymen but attempting to convince them to allow him to protest. He uses all three forms of rhetoric to advance his purpose and make point of the racist acts being taken by the Clergymen. As stated in the text, “I say it is 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). Through this statement, King uses both ethos and pathos as follows. King uses ethos by critiquing the actions of the church and explaining that he himself is involved with the church and has been since he was young. This gives him credibility and shows that he would know the morals of the church people and that is why he believes the Clergymen are not presenting the church well. Also by including this statement King is using pathos because of his awareness of the importance the church has for the Clergymen. Because they are religious people, using their home of prayer and belief against them appeals to their emotions and creates a sense of disappointment within the Clergymen. King continues to use these forms of rhetoric and also includes multiple uses of logos to persuade the Clergymen to allow him to protest. As stated in the text, “We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom” (King 11). Logically, if America is a free country everywhere including Birmingham is free as well. King communicates that if the Clergymen believe in this freedom, they should allow him to protest for those rights. King’s use of rhetoric was fully successful because he encompassed all forms of ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his letter. I believe that he held a stronger argument and supported it with better points. The text that is the best example of rhetoric used to advance the purpose is the Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. Compared to the other two texts, King ranged in what forms of rhetoric he used and didn’t use too much of one compared to another. For example in almost every page of the letter, you can identify his appeal to the audience’s emotions, his credibility, and logic. In the other two texts one form of rhetoric was constantly outweighing the other. In Yousafzai’s speech, she was much more focused on appealing to the emotions of her audience rather than explaining her credibility or logical reasons to be approaching the situations of Pakistan in the way she was. This point was also evident for Alvarez because her story didn’t include much ethos and she was speaking on her mother’s experience which took away that sense of credibility. I think these two texts could have explained more events that took place in the times of the situations and also explained why they were credible sources or “the right people” to be addressing these issues of social justice and

equality because anyone can witness something but not everyone has the character to speak on it.