Ethos, Pathos and Logos

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are three very effective rhetorical tools that can be found within every piece of writing. Fannie Lou Hamer and Stokely Carmichael both use these tools in their speeches to capture and convince their audience. Fannie Lou Hamer touches on each of these rhetorical strategies, however she appeals to pathos the most. In her relatively short speech (compared to Stokely Charmichael’s), she mainly describes her brutal experience in jail, and gives a detailed account of everything that happened. The vivid imagery that she depicts appeals to our pathos, for it creates a scene in our minds and makes it seem as if we are there watching this wickedness occur. While this appeals to our emotions, she also uses direct quotes and writes her speech as if it were a testimony in order to appeal to our logical capacity. And finally, she appeals to ethos by creating herself in the eyes of the audience as a peaceful woman who has endured terrible hardships that no one should have to go through. Stokely Carmichael’s speech, on the other hand, appeals mostly to ethos. In the reading “Ethical Proof,” two of the criteria for establishing good ethos was proving intelligence by doing one’s homework, and creating good character. Carmichael definitely proves he has done is homework, for he is very knowledgeable about the issue and has a lot of experience as a leader and activist. He also establishes good character by connecting with the audience and making them laugh. They are constantly applauding him which proves that he has apparently won them over. While these are two very different speeches, they each use ethos, pathos and logos as rhetorical strategies for solidifying their arguments.