Frederick Douglass Ethos Pathos Logos

The “Declaration of Independence” was written by one of the most accomplished of our nation’s founders, Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration was written during a time in which American Colonists tried to resolve their issues with Great Britain. On the other hand, former slave Frederick Douglass gives a speech on the topic of the Fourth of July called “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?”. Both men believed freedom was a right that is natural to all people. In order to persuade their audiences of this, each author uses ethos, pathos, and logos to support their argument.

By any means necessary A Muslim, father, son, leader, minister, student, teacher are all characteristics used to describe Malcolm X as a man. “By any means necessary” is a representation of what Malcolm X believed; it promotes perseverance, dedication, and motivation, which Malcolm X displays in “Prison Studies” on his quest for obtaining a better education (Malcolm X). The author explains that it is assumed his schooling went far beyond the eighth grade but his education was self-taught and it is due entirely to studying while in prison. (Malcolm X para.1).

Especially, Douglass employs the use of deliberate and measured rationality and inquiry tone to convince his audience. Additionally, he utilizes logos in terms of historical facts to back up his plea for equality in American society, also he uses logic where he talks about the fact that slaves are human. He points how people know this fact, but they just choose to ignore it. Another way that he appeals to logos is talking about how some people don’t understand what the Fourth of July

Writers use pathos, ethos, and logos in their writing to appeal to their audience. Pathos is an appeal to emotions, ethos is an appeal to trust, and logos is an appeal to reasoning or logic. Frederick Douglass's, " What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" is about his views and the views of many slaves towards the Fourth of July. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos effectively to convey his central message.

Douglass uses vivid imagery to depict the gruesome and ungodly nature of slavery. For example, in chapter six, Douglass describes the death of his grandmother “…She stands-she sits-she staggers-she falls-she groans-she dies-and there are none of her children or grandchildren present, to wipe from her wrinkled brow the cold sweat of death…” (59) This quote helps the reader imagine the grandmothers death and how helpless she felt. The fact that the slaveholders made it impossible for her children to be there when she died, contributes to the inhumane image Douglass has already been painting throughout the

Pathos: emotion/value, a way of convincing an audience of an argument by an emotional response

Aristotle came up with three appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos, all of which are found in all forms of writing, speeches, movies, television shows, and life within itself. Frederick Douglass used all three of these rhetoric devices in writing his narrative to tell about both his life as an American slave and his cause over ten decades ago. He uses these devices to identify himself to the readers, to bring emotion out of the readers, and to persuade the readers.

To start off, Douglass uses the rhetorical appeal, logos, to denounce the actions of the slave owners. Douglass describes the characteristics of a cruel overseer, Mr. Severe. “He died very soon after… and he died as he lived, uttering… bitter curses and horrid oaths” (Douglass, 19). The contrast in the two words “died” and “lived” also relates to logic, or rather the lack of logic, because his horrible actions caused him to die a horrible death. It shows that slaveholders are hard-headed on their attitudes on slavery, which uncovers the lack of compassion displayed by the slave owners. To build on, the word “oath” signifies having Christian values. Typically, Christians take oaths to never lie and to speak the truth, yet slave owners allow themselves to lie to their own beliefs when they treat slaves as if they were not human. Slave owners justify the way they act, by dehumanizing slaves and treating them as animals or property. Furthermore, Mrs. Auld, the wife of a slave owner, demonstrates how slavery rots the soul of slave owners. She starts out teaching young Douglass how to read and write and then becomes just like all the other corrupted slave owners. “The tender heart became stone, and the lamb-like disposition gave way to one of tiger-like fierceness” (Douglass, 34). In the quote, Douglass uses an antithesis varying in words such as, “tender” and “stone”. Contrasting words appeal to logos, because this evidence helps justify the argument that slavery transforms slave owners, in this case, Mrs. Auld. He also uses animals “lamb” and “tiger” to emphasize the similarities of animals and slaves at this time. It can also relate to

In today’s society, almost all people are seen the same way, people have faults about them and have different traits, but all are considered human, men and woman are able to hold the same positions and jobs, and people of all races are able to live together in society. Frederick Douglass was born, and raised, a slave in the 1800s; life was very different, African Americans and white Americans were not seen as equals. As a young boy, Douglass was sent to Baltimore where he learned to read and write. By learning to read and write, Douglass knew the difference between slavery and freedom was literacy. After this crucial time in his life,

The Logos in this excerpt has a structure of Frederick Douglass’s events going in chronological order. He opens this

One of the two most prominent figures in literature, Henry David Thoreau and Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., have very similar but yet vastly different writing styles. Their writing styles can be shown through their most well known pieces of writing, “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King. A way to compare and contrast their styles is through their use of rhetorical devices in order to persuade their readers into viewing a particular opinion and central argument, in this case they both use pathos, the appeal through conveying emotion, in seperate ways in order to persuade readers into the similar idea of promoting civil disobedience.

Writing from the heart, expressing feelings, having a strong emotional impact on ones audience, using an appeal to emotion and logic, using facts and presenting arguments in a professional way, to the enlightenment of one's viewers; Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail; consists of three Rhetorical Strategies throughout his letter that is known and taught around the world as ETHOS, PATHOS and LOGOS. An appeal to ethics, a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader (ethos), an appeal to emotion, and a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response (Pathos), and finally, an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason (Logos); these three Rhetorical Strategies are used countless times throughout Martin Luther King’s Letter for Birmingham Jail.

Martin Luther King’s use of Pathos and Logos in “I have a Dream” showcases how he uses the devices to inspire others, compared to how he uses these rhetorical devices in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to persuade the Clergymen. Martin Luther King, also referred to MLK, uses both Pathos and Logos to fit the audiences and occasions for each text. His uses of Pathos and Logos in these two texts are examples of how words can inspire change.

During the speech, King uses some rhetorical concepts to appeal to the audiences. In this paper, I want to discuss the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in King's speech. King (1963) uses ethos in his speech when he says “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation.” The great

Speeches are known for making individuals from every country be persuaded or informed on a certain topic. The males and females writing the speeches use rhetorical appeals to help enhance their speech. Because of these appeals, they can help him or her build credibility with their audience, make use of logic, and use pathos to bring out emotion in the audience to help get his or her point across. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “Street Sweeper” and Sam Berns’ speech “My Philosophy for a Happy Life”, both demonstrate the use of ethos, pathos, and logos in both similar and different ways to convince their audience to stand up to society and stand up for themselves. King and Berns both used ethos to make people start listening to them to begin with, they built up credibility with their audiences. Though they used pathos in different ways, Berns using his story of not being able to play in the marching band until he built his on mechanism and King using pathos by saying things that the audience could relate to and stand up for, they both used pathos. Finally, they both used logos in different ways, King using it for the reason of his speech and Berns using it throughout the speech.