Final Blog

In the reading “The means to persuasion” it discusses the three types of appeals Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. Pathos is the appeal to the emotion it’s a way to convince the reader to a particular argument using the emotional context. In Obama’s speech “A more perfect union” he uses Pathos by telling the story of Ashley and how the elderly black man sitting at the end of the row tells her he’s supporting the campaign because of her. This is to humanize the concept Obama is trying to get across in his speech. Secondly, ethos is and appeal to ethics to give the speaker credibility with the audience. Obama uses ethos by explaining his background of both white and black sides of his immediate family, and his education and diversity of where he was raised both in Kenya and in the US. The description of his past and diversity helps align himself in the audience’s mind that he has seen both sides of the argument and lived alongside them. Finally, Logos is the use of logic to persuade one’s audience to accept your argument. He uses logos in his speech by explaining that even “open minded” people still carry preconceived notions using his grandmother and his pastor as examples, and that logically if some very close open minded individuals have these notions then work is not yet done on the front of bringing together America as a whole and not allowing racial prejudices to further widen the divide between each other. Obama’s speech is as moving as it is a textbook example of how properly introducing logos pathos and ethos into one’s speech and literature you can create moving and effective arguments that truly reach the reader or audience thus sharing your viewpoint and arguments further than would otherwise be possible.