Rhetorical Appeals
In "I Have a Dream," MLK Jr. states: "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality." Explain the rhetorical appeal.
Pathos - appeals to the audience's emotions by describing "unspeakable horrors" and evoking sympathy for victims of injustice
Identify the device: "We will fight on the beaches. We will fight in the streets. We will fight in the hills. We will never surrender."
Anaphora - the deliberate repetition of "We will fight" at the beginning of successive sentences
MLK Jr. begins: "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation." What device is "five score years ago"?
Allusion - references Lincoln's Gettysburg Address ("Four score and seven years ago"), connecting the civil rights movement to the legacy of ending slavery.
What do the two S's in SOAPSTone mean?
Speaker and Subject
What are the THREE required components of a topic sentence for a rhetorical analysis body paragraph?
Harvey Milk states: "The black community made up its mind to that a long time ago. That the myths against blacks can only be dispelled by electing black leaders, so the black community could be judged by the leaders and not by the myths or black criminals." Explain the appeal
Logos - uses logical reasoning by providing evidence from the Black community's successful strategy as a model for the LGBTQ+ community to follow
In Harvey Milk's speech, he says: "For invisible, we remain in limbo—a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment." What device is this?
Metaphor - comparing invisible LGBTQ+ people to being "in limbo" suggests they exist in an uncertain, undefined space between existence and non-existence.
Identify the device in Chavez's title and closing: "the wrath of grapes is a plague born of selfish men that is indiscriminately and undeniably poisoning us all."
Metaphor - comparing the grape industry/pesticide issue to a "plague" emphasizes its widespread, disease-like harm.
Which statement is the BEST message for MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech?
A) Black people deserve equal rights.
B) America must fulfill its promise of equality for all citizens regardless of race.
C) Discrimination is bad.
D) The civil rights movement is important.
B - This is the BEST message because it's specific, actionable, and captures the speech's central argument. A is too simplistic, C is too vague, and D describes the topic but not the core message/argument.
Find the error in this topic sentence: "Cesar Chavez uses metaphor in his speech about grapes." What's missing?
1. the effect/purpose of the metaphor (what it does/achieves)
2. the rhetorical appeal it develops.
BETTER: "Cesar Chavez uses metaphor to emphasize the deadly, widespread threat of pesticides, appealing to the audience's fear and sympathy through pathos."
Cesar Chavez opens his speech by saying, "I believe our greatest court, the court of last resort, is the American people." He then cites statistics: "over 17 million Americans united in a grape boycott campaign." Which TWO appeals does this combination use, and why are they used?
Ethos and Logos. Ethos establishes his credibility by acknowledging the American people as the ultimate authority; Logos uses statistical evidence (17 million Americans) to prove the boycott's legitimacy and success.
Identify the device AND explain its effect: MLK Jr. states, "until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."
Simile (also allusion to the Bible, Amos 5:24). This comparison creates vivid imagery of justice as an unstoppable, natural force like flowing water. The biblical allusion also adds ethos by connecting the civil rights movement to religious moral authority
In "I Have a Dream," MLK Jr. uses: "as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities." Identify TWO devices present.
Imagery - "bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel" creates a vivid sensory image of exhaustion. 2) Parallelism - "motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities" uses parallel structure to emphasize the widespread nature of discrimination.
What is the difference between PURPOSE and MESSAGE? Use Cesar Chavez's "Wrath of Grapes" speech to explain.
PURPOSE = what the speaker wants the audience to DO (the action/goal). MESSAGE = what the speaker wants the audience to UNDERSTAND/BELIEVE (the main idea/argument).
For Chavez: MESSAGE = "Pesticides in grape production are poisoning farm workers and consumers, and this injustice must end."
PURPOSE = To convince Americans to boycott grapes and support farm workers in their fight against pesticide use.
What is a "lead-in" and why is it necessary? Provide an example from one of our speeches.
A LEAD-IN provides context about the speech's circumstances before presenting evidence. It helps the reader understand WHY the device matters in that specific situation.
EXAMPLE: "Milk's speech takes place in 1978, a time period where LGBTQ+ individuals were facing housing, job, and healthcare discrimination, as well as stereotypical or criminal representations of the community in the media."
Identify the PRIMARY appeal in this excerpt from Chavez's speech AND explain how a SECONDARY appeal also functions: "How can I explain these chemicals to 3-year-old Amalia Larios who will never walk, born with a spinal defect due to pesticide exposure of her mother. What statistics are important to Adrian Espinoza 7 years old and dying of cancer with 8 other children."
Primary: Pathos - evokes strong emotional response through specific, heartbreaking examples of children harmed by pesticides. Secondary: Ethos - Chavez establishes his credibility by demonstrating personal knowledge of individual victims, showing he's directly involved in the community and their suffering.
Cesar Chavez uses this device when he asks: "What court will hear the case of 32-year-old Juan Chaboya, murdered by deadly chemicals in the freshly sprayed fields outside San Diego... What excuse for justice will we offer his 4 children and his widow if we do nothing." Identify the device and explain TWO different effects it has.
Rhetorical Questions. Effect 1: Forces the audience to mentally answer "no court" and "no excuse," making them confront the injustice. Effect 2: Creates urgency and guilt by implying the audience's inaction contributes to the problem, motivating them to take action.
There are TWO devices in this passage. "I can't forget the looks on faces of people who've lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that's foreign to them." What device(s) are present and what is the effect?
Anaphora ("Be they" repeated) + Parallelism (each clause follows the same structure). The cumulative effect: (1) Creates rhythm that builds emotional intensity, (2) Links multiple marginalized groups together, showing their shared struggle, (3) Emphasizes the universality of hopelessness across different communities, and (4) Builds to the conclusion that hope is needed for EVERYONE, not just the LGBTQ+ community.
Identify the OCCASION for Harvey Milk's "Hope" speech AND explain how the occasion influences his message.
OCCASION: 1978, speaking at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade, shortly after Anita Bryant's successful campaign to repeal gay rights protections in Dade County, Florida, and after a gay man was murdered in San Francisco just before Pride.
INFLUENCE: The recent defeats and violence create an atmosphere of despair in the LGBTQ+ community, which directly shapes Milk's message about the necessity of hope. He's responding to a specific moment of crisis, which is why "hope" becomes his central theme rather than just political strategy.
A student writes: "Chavez uses rhetorical questions when he asks 'What court will hear the case of 32-year-old Juan Chaboya?' This is a rhetorical question because it doesn't have an answer." What are TWO problems with this analysis, and what should the analysis accomplish instead?
TWO PROBLEMS:
What should be improved?
Explain the IMPLIED answer and why that matters ("no court will hear it")
A student writes: "MLK Jr. uses ethos when he says 'We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote' because this makes the audience feel sad about voting rights." What is wrong with this analysis? Explain the correct appeal and why.
MISTAKE: The student incorrectly identifies the appeal. If something "makes the audience feel sad," it's pathos (emotional appeal), not ethos (credibility/ethical appeal). CORRECT ANALYSIS: This is actually logos. MLK Jr. presents a logical argument about injustice by providing a concrete, factual example of disenfranchisement. While it may evoke emotion, the primary function is to logically demonstrate inequality through evidence.
Harvey Milk states: "The Spanish community must not be judged by Latin criminals or myths. The Asian community must not be judged by Asian criminals or myths. The Italian community must not be judged by the mafia, myths. And the time has come when the gay community must not be judged by our criminals and myths." Identify the device and structure being repeated, and explain why Milk breaks the pattern slightly in the last sentence.
Parallelism- Repeated structure: "The [group] community must not be judged by [their] criminals or myths." Milk breaks the pattern in the final sentence by adding "And the time has come when..." This deviation serves two purposes: (1) It emphasizes the LGBTQ+ community as the climax/main point after building through examples, and (2) The addition of "the time has come" adds urgency and a call to action, signaling this isn't just another example but THE reason for the speech.
One of these quotes is both parallelism & anaphora. Which one is it, and how do you know?
Quote A (Harvey Milk): "I can't forget the looks on faces of people who've lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that's foreign to them."
Quote B (MLK Jr.): "Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force."
In Quote A, "Be they" appears at the beginning of each clause with identical structure: "Be they [group] + [description]." This creates a clear, repeated pattern across four parallel clauses.
A student writes: "The message of MLK Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech is to convince people to support civil rights and end segregation." What's the problem with this statement and how would you correct it?
This is the PURPOSE (what MLK wants the audience to DO - support/take action), NOT the message (what MLK wants them to UNDERSTAND/BELIEVE). The phrase "to convince people to..." is a dead giveaway that this is purpose language.
CORRECT MESSAGE: "America has broken its constitutional promise of equality to Black citizens, and racial discrimination must end immediately for the nation to fulfill its founding ideals."
Read this student analysis of Cesar Chavez's "Wrath of Grapes" speech: "Cesar Chavez's speech talks about grapes and pesticides. Chavez states, 'the wrath of grapes is a plague born of selfish men that is indiscriminately and undeniably poisoning us all.' Also, Chavez uses rhetorical questioning when stating, 'What court will hear the case of 32-year-old Juan Chaboya, murdered by deadly chemicals in the freshly sprayed fields outside San Diego.' The rhetorical question 'what court will hear…' is used by the speaker. These devices play on the audience's emotions." What are the mistakes?
1. Does not prove the devices
2. Does not explain the effect or appeal in enough detail
3. Does not connect back to message and purpose