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.