Persuasive writing and speaking can advance the progress towards social justice and

equality because it brings awareness to the issue and it inspires other to act. In “Letter from
Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, King’s purpose is to respond to the clergymen and
persuade them to allow him to act/protest. In “A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez, Alvarez’s
purpose is to inform the audience of hardships faced by those in the Dominican Republic and to
persuade her audience to speak up for justice. In the U.N Youth Assembly speech by Malala
Yousafzai, her purpose is to advocate for women’s rights, girl’s education, and free education all
over the world for every child. King, Alvarez, and Yousafzai advance their purpose by using
forms of rhetoric such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Martin Luther King does the best job of
advancing his purpose in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

King’s purpose in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is to respond to the clergymen and
persuade them to allow him to act/protest. King uses pathos to advance his purpose when he
talks about how Jesus Christ was an “extremist” for the greater good. He states, “The other,
J​esus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, and goodness, and thereby rose above his
environment.”(Page 8) King appeals to the clergymen’s sense of religion by explaining why
being an extremist for a good cause, like Jesus, is helpful and necessary so that he can use
their religious beliefs to persuade the clergymen to let him be an extremist for good by
protesting. King also uses ethos by labeling himself a religious leader and brother when
addressing the clergymen. King states, “I also hope that circumstances will soon make it
possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil rights leader, but as a
fellow clergyman and a Christian brother.”(Page 12) King makes himself a credible source by
labeling himself as a fellow religious leader and brother, by doing so, he is advancing his
purpose by making the clergymen respect his authority and convincing them to allow him to act
because of who he is. King is very successful in using rhetoric to advance his purpose. This is
because he used strong arguments to justify his need to protest and he was able to back up his
arguments with forms of rhetoric such as ethos, pathos, and logos.

In “A Genetics of Justice” by Julia Alvarez, Alvarez’s purpose is to inform the audience of

hardships faced by those in the Dominican Republic and persuade her audience to speak up for
justice. Alvarez talks about the suffering her mother had to endure during an obligatory march to
honor Trujillo. Alvarez states, “Under her breath, my mother is cursing this monster who drags
thousands of women out on the hot streets to venerate him. (Page 3) Alvarez uses pathos to
advance her purpose by speaking of the hardships her mother faced as a Dominican under
Trujillo's rule. Alvarez also talks about how she felt the need to speak up for the Dominicans
who were suffering. She states, “But if I shut up, wouldn’t I still be fanning the embers of the
dictatorship with its continuing power of censorship and control over the imagination of many
Dominicans?” (Page 6) Alvarez uses logos to reason out why she needs to speak up for justice,
by doing this, she advances her purpose by encouraging others to speak up for justice because
if your not doing so, you’re contributing to the injustice. Alvarez is somewhat successful in using
rhetoric to advance her purpose. She was successful by using logos to explain why it’s
necessary to speak up for justice but she didn’t use ethos to build up credibility for her
argument.
 Malala Yousafzai’s purpose in the U.N. Youth Assembly is to advocate for women’s
rights, girl’s education, and free education all over the world for every child. Malala explains how
she was inspired by others who have fought for equality/justice to make a change. Malala
states, “This is the legacy of change I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela,
and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.” This is an example of ethos because Malala uses examples of
authority figures such as MLK that have fought for the rights of others to justify her need to fight
for the right of education and to align herself with these authority figures. Malala then talks about
examples of children around the world who are deprived of their rights. Malala states, “In India,
innocent and poor children are victims of child labor. Many schools have been destroyed in
Nigeria. People in Afghanistan have been affected by extremism.” This is an example of logos
because Malala provides facts of children suffering due the loss of their rights and education,
she advances her purpose by advocating for the rights of those children who don’t have a voice.
Yousafzai is more successful than Alvarez in using rhetoric to advance her purpose but not as
successful as King. She is more successful than Alvarez because she uses all forms of rhetoric
but she is not as successful as King because there is still problems going on with terrorism and
education for everyone.

In conclusion, King is the best example of rhetoric used to advance a purpose. King’s
use of rhetoric was the best because he used all forms unlike Alvarez who only used 2, and he
was able to make his purpose successful because there is no longer segregation in America
meanwhile Malala’s issue is still prevalent in the world today. Alvarez could’ve improved her use
of rhetoric by using ethos to provide credibility/reliability to her purpose. King was extremely
successful at demonstrating how writing can advance the progress towards equality because
his letter contributed to ending segregation. Alvarez’s story of her experiences was successful in
showing why social justice was needed for the Dominicans under Trujillo’s rule. Malala was very
successful in showing that speaking up for equality can help to make others aware of why
advocating for the right of education is necessary.