Oxford dictionary (2017) defines persuasion as ‘the action or process of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something’. When related to communication, persuasion is referred as ‘any message that is intended to shape, reinforce, or change the responses of another or others’ (Miller, 1980). It is used to convince others to ‘agree with our facts, share our values, accept our argument and conclusions, and adopt our way of thinking’ (Saylor Academy, 2017). A key element in persuasion is language. The effective use of language is referred as rhetoric. According to google dictionary (2017), rhetoric is deepened through ‘the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques’. This technique of persuasion is commonly used by politicians, marketing agent, advertisers, social activists etc. to reach the desired efforts (Wawasan, 2015).
‘Persuasion
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A typical example is the work of Martin Luther King Jr with his famous speech ‘I have a dream’ (1963) in which he incited for the end of racism in the US. From the use of repetition of ‘I have a dream’ to create emphasis on his vision on racism to the use of metaphor ‘happiness is a sunny day, loneliness is a locked door, cosiness is a cat on your lap’ to show the contrast between racism and freedom, he has been able to deliver a very prophetic speech ‘now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children’. Martin Luther King words act as the trigger component in the progessive change of the civil rights of the Black Americans as he was ‘the right man delivered the right words to the right people in the right place at the right time’ (Antony Trendl, 2017). King’s grandiloquent speech remains in history and has influenced many activists such as Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) and Rosa Parks (1913-2005) to name
Authors use language to persuade citizens to examine personal biases. Language persuades citizens by making them want to do good things for their community, or try something new. Persuasion is to cause someone to believe something, or convince.
Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech titled “I Have a Dream” on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. In this speech, Dr. King is trying to persuade all races specifically Blacks and Whites to take action in order to gain freedom and harmony in the community. He tries to do this by using different techniques to appeal to his audience. It is shown that he uses pathos or emotional appeal throughout his speech. Also there are clear signs of logical appeal which is called logos. In addition, to logos and pathos, Dr. King uses ethical appeal to strengthen his argument. One of the key main techniques that Dr. King uses is figurative language which gives his speech more emphasis on why action is needed.
Often times in daily life, a person will use rhetoric. Whether it’s arguing with a sibling or the sound of an alarm, rhetoric is in use. Rhetoric is effective persuasion and persuasion is swaying someone to do or believe in something. The reason rhetoric is important to be taught in school is because not only does it often show up in daily life but it can show up in the media as well.
Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” is persuading because of his authoritative language, political opinions, and an outreach to his readers. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is also persuading with his use of an analytical language, repetition, and criticisms. Not only are the authors using the same techniques, but also using them differently for their desired result.
African American Baptist minister and activist, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech, addresses racism against Negros and demands equal rights and freedoms. King’s purpose is to motivate his audience to join him in fighting for what they deserve. He shifts from an urgent, demanding tone at the beginning of the speech to a more hopeful and patriotic tone towards the end. Throughout the speech, Dr. King appeals to the audience’s desire to better their futures by utilizing figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, and rhetorical devices such as repetition and parallelism.
Courageous persuaders use powerful rhetorical language to send a message to the public; this is how Dr. King accomplished his purpose. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, published in 1963: “Why We Cant Wait”, by Martin Luther King Jr., demonstrates a perfect example of empowering rhetorical language. King demonstrates this language in order to persuade his readers in a respectful manner. King’s purpose of writing this letter is to create awareness of the lack of civil rights in the Negro community; his main goal for his call to action is to stop segregation. In order to bring peace and justice for segregated families, Dr. King, attempted on persuading the clergyman to observe the civil disobedience that is immoral for Kings people by using these rhetorical appeals: pathos, ethos, and logos.
Rhetoric is the idea of persuasion. Its basic idea is to influence someone to believe in our idea or help understand the message we are trying to deliver. In our daily life we use rhetoric in many places. This includes verbal communication as well as non-verbal communication such as body language and facial expression. In the workplace it can be used to communicate with people effectively.
Rhetoric is a form of language that expresses persuasion. Rhetoric is not only used in educational settings, but also in other forms in a person’s day-to-day life. For example, when people get on their social media, video advertisements of certain products pop up to persuade the person to buy their product, radio stations persuade people to call and win tickets for a concert, and TV commercials persuade people to go buy a new car. This form of persuasive language is normal because it is seen and heard everywhere. It just depends on the creator to see if it actually works and gets the audience to actually be persuaded.
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.
These optimistic words by Dr.Martin Luther King Junior in his famous speech “ I have a dream” he has motivated and convinced many citizens about African American rights. In his speech Dr.Martin Luther King Junior had many strategies and one major one is the use of metaphors. What a metaphor means is a comparison of two things without using “like” or “as”. In this speech Dr.Martin Luther King Junior used countless of metaphors.
In the speech “I Have a Dream” written by Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader, persuades the audience about how all people should be treated equally no matter the color of their skin. He presented his speech to people on August 28, 1963, to encourage them to treat all people equally. The two aspects of king’s speech that are the most important, are figurative language and repetition to create images and rally people. King’s speech uses figurative language to create imagery and images in the people's minds, and repetition to rally people to believe more in his speech and what he is talking about.
The tone of Dr. King’s speech is justice and passionate. The use of powerful diction or words choice in the speech creates logical, emotional, and credible appeals on the audience. The utilization of figurative language or rhetorical tropes and schemes also creates “I Have a Dream” speech an effective one. One of the rhetoric tropes Dr. King used in his speech was metaphor. Metaphor is a word or phrase applied to an object or action in which it is not literally applicable. One example of metaphor in Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice” (King). This metaphor explains the audience that they need to change American society from racial
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.
In writing it’s important to have an understanding of what you’re trying to convey for your audience in addition to how you you will present your ideas. Effective communication extends beyond having well organized writing expressed in complete and coherent sentences. The style, tone and clarity of writing must also be considered, as they are constantly changing relative to the audience. Again, analyzing one’s audience and purpose is essential to successful writing. Appropriately, when choosing the most effective language, it is important to consider the document objective as well as the reader. In essence, this idea of effective use of language has been the overarching theme of this online English course. Each writing assignment
The issue of ‘guns laws in America’ has created grave concerns for the wellbeing and safety of it’s citizens, particularly in Oregon. Barak Obama, President of the United States, reads out a calculated speech addressing the many concerns and shocking truths that America faces on a ‘routine’ basis when these powerful ‘killing machines’ are in criminal possession. Expressing a sombre tone, Obama discusses that as an ‘advanced country’ on Earth ‘we’ need to do more to prevent this kind of behaviour instead of succumbing to ‘[numbness]’.