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Rhetorical analysis pathos ethos logos
Critical analysis of mlk speech
Rhetorical analysis pathos ethos logos
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Throughout the Martin Luther I have a Dream speech I noticed many different examples of ethos, pathos, and logos. All of them made the writing interesting and more captivating than I expected it to be. Ethos talks about morals or right from wrong. In Martin’s speech, he said “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plain of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. ”I took this as him saying that if they were violent and tried to start a war with the police and white folks it would …show more content…
King said, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”.” I thought this was a great analogy because after he talked about the Constitution and Declaration of Independence related to equality for everyone it helped explain further just how bad the segregation was and he compared it to something anyone could experience. This really made me think about how bad things were but not only that, how it can still be related to today. It also made me upset that they felt like they were “given a bad check” by America especially since it is stated in the Constitution that all men are created equal. Logos was a bit hard to notice at first in the speech but, I eventually figured out that it is not limited to just numbers and straight facts. It can also include the many different historical texts Dr. King talked about throughout the speech. For example, Dr. King talked about how the Constitution states that all men are created equal. This does not specify anything about that man, just that he was a man who should be treated as an equal to others. I felt like this was perfectly placed in the text and him including this added a lot better, non-arguable points to his
To prove his point of what he is mentioning he used Categorical Syllogism for example all people have rights. All African Americans are people; therefore, all African Americans have rights. Thus King wanted to change how people look at African American not as slaves, but just human beings just like the Caucasian people. Injustice laws and justice laws are two different laws how King was mentioning how their laws were injustice because they were treating the colored people without respect, and like if they are
Ethos, pathos, and logos are used to make his argument adequate with each appeal adding a different way to look at his situation. They all add an unique touch of individuality to his argument. King establishes his credibility, evokes emotional response, and uses logic all to his advantage. King accomplishes the use of allowing the readers to understand his beliefs. The use of Aristotle’s appeals are what molds his entire letter/argument. As a reader of this letter, it opened me up to a different mindset on what Martin Luther King Jr had to go through to accomplish his goals by getting a sense of the hardships he went through to stand up for what he believes in. I personally believe King possesses the use of rhetorical appeals very
King explained that, even though the laws had granted equal rights to all black people, the white supremacy wasn’t changed just by these acts. To most white people, civil rights movements, only made them realized that how cruel they did to those black people and they should treat them with some decent, but never really led them to think that Black American was as equal as themselves. He also addressed that this dominant ideology led to many structural obstacles, which impeded the implementation of those legislations in almost every structure of life, including the economic market, educational institution and public services. In Education, even many years after the Supreme Court decision on abolishing school segregation, there only a few integration schools existed. The segregated elementary schools received fewer fund and were in the harsher condition and “one-twentieth as many African American as whites attend college, and half of these are in ill-equipped Southern institution”(Reader, p.p.186). In labor market, most of employed Black American were worked in menial jobs and received lower wages even though they did the same works. This racism had already rooted in whole social structures that cannot just be solved by
Dr. King’s speech starts off with a very strong and well calculated use of logos. He starts his speech with a historical background of African Americans situations in America. He enlightens the audience that 100 years earlier Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which gave all the slaves their freedom. Then after that statement he says that 100 years later African Americans are still not free. Yes, they are no longer sl...
As King stood before the massive crowd of Americans, he urged the citizens of the United States to turn their hatred of colored people into a hatred of the true evil: racism. King continually states that the black people are being held back by the “chains of discrimination.” King uses this to make the audience feel that the black people are in great misfortune. King describes the white people as swimming in an “ocean of material prosperity” while the black people are stranded on a “lonely island of poverty.” Here, King magnificently uses the Declaration of Independence and implores the audiences’ emotions on all levels, wielding pathos as his Rhetorical weapon. Prejudices surrounded the nation and caused fear, anger, panic, rage, and many more intense emotions. All people who lived in this time period experienced these prejudices in one form or another. King takes the idea of these prejudices and describes a world without all of the hate and fear. He imagines an ideal world that all races, not just black people, would find more pleasant and peaceful. Moreover, King references how the United States has broken their promise to the men of color by refusing them the basic human rights granted in the foundational documents of the country: the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
First and most importantly, Dr. King’s letter was very explanatory about the pain African Americans were going through during segregation. For instance, in his letter he explains, “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights” Which means they were very tired of hearing the word “wait” just as used once. (Dr. King4) According to Dr. Martin Ruther King , African American were getting very impatient and things were graving worse. Also, Dr. King was getting tired of raising his children in that kind of environment. He didn’t like the fact his children were experience how African Americans were being called Negro and being treated like animals:
In “Patrolling Racial Borders: Discrimination Against Mixed Race People," Heather Dalmage provides a brief history of and social context for the discrimination against multiracial people in the United States. She identifies people who discriminate against multiracial people as “border patrollers," or people who believe the color line is fixed and permanent, and thus they have the ability to discern between “themselves” and “others”. She goes on to identify broad areas of everyday life in which multicultural children are “patrolled” and face discrimination, through the patrolling of the child’s physicality, linguistics, interaction with embers of the out-group, geographies, and cultural capital. Her main point is that border patrolling is the
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King made his famous “I Have a dream” speech on the Lincoln Memorial after the March on Washington. He delivered this speech to millions of people blacks and whites. This is one of the greatest speeches because it has many elements like pathos, logos, ethos, repetition, assonance, and consonance.
... does an exceptionally good job at making a connection between an African American citizen in favor of equality to people in favor of segregation. He is able to construct a common ground between his readers in many ways. King forces his readers to compare Hitler's genocide agenda to the suppression of African Americans in America. He is also able to connect with his audience on levels such as religion, law, and morality. His use of logic as a method to bypass racist feelings and ideas allows him to get his point across without his readers brushing off his letter as just another attempt for equality. Instead, he greatly influences his readers while they gain a significant amount of respect for his words and ideas.
Martin Luther King uses Logos, Pathos, and Ethos throughout his piece to provide his argument.
On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous and powerful speech I Have a Dream, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The purpose of his speech was to fight for the civil rights, equality, and to stop the discrimination against African-American people. His use of imagery, repetition, and metaphor in his speech had created an impact with his audience. King used the three rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos and logos to help the audience understand the message of his speech.
Alleged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his “I Have A Dream” speech on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. King said “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Meaning there shall be equality between one another. Dr. King grew up around pastors in a Baptist Church, so when he gave his speeches he sounded like a preacher. He was a well-educated person who graduated from Boston University and received his Doctorate degree. Plus he was a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race. Being a strong worker and having knowledge of civil rights made him more of a confident and convincing speaker. Therefore, In Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, he pointed out to African Americans, that in the near future the African Americans would have equal rights and liberty like all the other Caucasians have. In this speech I have found Dr. King using logos, ethos, and pathos to get his attention across about equality and to make his speech sound more effective. Out of the three rhetorical appeals I have found that Dr. King used ethos the most predominately followed by the second most effective, pathos, and how King is a convincing speaker to his audience.
Changing history cannot be done without the strength and the leadership needed from a person. Without these qualities, the world will not shape for the better. An example of this qualities possessed by a leader, is Dr. Martin Luther King. Born in 1929, King was a successful civil rights activist in the United States Of America. Kings’ philosophy is to defeat the ‘evil’ of segregation through non-violent direct actions. One of king’s most successful accomplishments, was the boycott against the city bus company. On the thirteenth of November in 1956, the US district court ruled out against the state and local segregation laws in Alabama. This was only possible through the leadership and strength of Dr. Martin Luther King as the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association. During 1957, King was elected as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In order to gain the trust and respect of the Christian audience, King wrote an essay that was published in the Christian Century as, ‘Nonviolence and racial justice’. In order to gain the audiences trust, King must develop his authority. Martin Luther King’s develops the ethos as authoritative in the essay, ‘Nonviolence and racial justice’ in order to gain to the trust and respect from the intended audience. Throughout the text, king appeals to ethos indirectly as form of persuasion of his authority. Initially he uses the tone of certainty and authority to develop the ethos. Secondly, King uses high modality and formal language as an effective way to demonstrate his intellect. Finally, he uses past events to appeal to ethos and logos.
From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than two score years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. Aimed at the entire nation, King’s main purpose in this speech was to convince his audience to demand racial justice towards the mistreated African Americans and to stand up together for the rights afforded to all under the Constitution. To further convey this purpose more effectively, King cleverly makes use of the rhetorical devices — ethos, pathos and logos — using figurative language such as metaphors and repetition as well as various other techniques e.g. organization, parallel construction and choice of title.
King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this