Ethos, Pathos and Logos PAGE 1
Running head: RHETORICAL APPEALS
TUI UNIVERSITY
Ronald J. Zudonyi Jr.
Module 01 – Case Assignment: Part 1
ENG 101
English Composition
Professor Tom Kunz
July 15, 2013
Ethos, Pathos and Logos PAGE 2
A Letter about Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. was known for being a great public speaker and writer. He was able to move crowds with his speeches, make them feel something inside. He convinced people to join the Civil Rights Movement with his speeches and essays, such as “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. He made people understand that segregation was unjust. How was able to do all this just through his writing? Martin Luther King Jr. was able to make a difference with his use of the literary devices; ethos, pathos, and logos.
In his essay, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King addresses comments made about him from clergymen saying that his actions in the Civil Rights Movement were “unwise and untimely”. He explains to them the reasons he protests against the unequal treatment of black Americans in the South. In this essay, he is trying to convince his fellow clergymen that what he is doing is morally right. One way he is able to accomplish this is with his use of pathos, emotional appeal. He explains how hard it is for blacks living in the south. How they are not treated with respect and are seen as inferior. “when your first name becomes ‘nigger,’ your middle name becomes ‘boy’ (however old you are) and your last name becomes ‘John,’ and your wife and mother are never given the respected title of ‘Mrs.’” (King 3). African Americans were treated unfairly. Segregation, in the eyes of the whites, was to keep the blacks away from them, so they would also know who was superior. The blacks were not given the same rights as the whites, and Martin Luther King was protesting to change that....