Pre Writing for Project 1

Salvador Lopez

Professor Baer

English 5B

MWF 12:00-12:50PM

Pre Writing for Project 1

For my Project 1 I will discuss Dr. Martin Luther King Jr "I Have A Dream Speech". Dr. King has made a great mark in history for raising awareness in the civil rights movement. To put it bluntly, Dr. King was fed up with all the injustice laws against the colored people. He felt like this country was segregated and claimed that there was promises that were never acted upon. For example, in the speech he spake,  "This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. " In making this comment, Dr. King Jr. is explaining that promises were made in the Declaration of Independence but were never equally distributed. 

Dr. King Jr. did not like how the whites and the colored had different signs for one another. That was great proof of segregation. The way the government was treating the colored minority was unequal compared to the way the whites were being treated. However, when Dr. King Jr. delivered his speech it all changed. If he never delivered his speech or protested non-violently we might still be segregated, but luckily we had a great man like Dr. King Jr. who stopped segregation from greatly expanding.

Without his confidence and great ways of using authority he would have not been successful. When you listen to him speak, you don't hear hesitation, you hear confidence in a man. He presents everything with background knowledge. 

Therefore, I am more than eager to write my Project 1 on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His "I Have a Dream Speech" is one of the greatest speeches of all time which really shaped the U.S of what it is today. 

Project 1 Text

Salvador Lopez

Professor Baer

English 5B

MWF 12:00-12:50 PM

Rhetorical strategies that are used in my Project 1 text

For my Project 1 I have decided to include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. " I Have A Dream speech.I have decided to write my speech on Martin Luther King Jr. ,“ I have a dream speech”. I have chosen this great piece of writing due to the fact that he has been a great inspiration in our lives and gave us the people a taste of equality. Without this man raising awareness for equality and having his dream in mind, we wouldn’t be living in the world we live in now. Overall, MLK was trying to spread equality throughout the country.

After reading the speech, I think the overall rhetorical situation seems to be Logos and pathos. I cant choose between either or I feel like reading it again will help me identify more of it. Little by little I will get the situation that is really being brought upon. All I need to find out about this text is what kind of rhetorical situation he is using. 

Salvador Lopez

Professor Baer

English 5B

MWF 12:00-12:50PM

Fallacies

I chose to descirbe a hasty generalization logical fallacy. It comes from the National Football League.com. The article," Six Free-agent fits that make sense" shares to us hasty generalizations about upcoming free agents that are going to hit the market. When players contracts are up from certain teams, they become either an unrestricted or restricted free agent. The team that still has possession of the player can either resign him or let him go. All teams have until March 10 to either resign the player or let him go. However, in the case people are just assuming that players like Julius Thomas and Cecil shorts are going to different teams and are not going to resign with their old team. Then they are assuming that they are going to different teams based on assumptions and not really facts. They aren't sure that the players are going to those new teams but they are assuming they are.

I believe that this article provides fans to think more about free agency and the different outcomes that can happen. I feel like this actually helps the fans to have more ideas of other players and see if they stay faithful to their team or run for more money. 

This article ties in with a hasty generalization because they are assuming that players are going with different teams based on other teams needs. They don't know whether they are staying with their old team, but are still assuming that some will go to other teams. They really won't know the real answer until March 10. 

Sessier, Marc., "Six Free-Agent fits that make sense" Around the NFL writer, February 2015. Web. February 16, 2015 

Logos

Salvador Lopez


English 5B


Professor Baer


February 9, 2015

Logos analysis on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Henry David Thoreau

After reading both the letter and article from both authors. I noticed both authors try to make their point heard through out their writings. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his letter to the clergy men to inform them all about the non-violent protests and their beliefs. He felt like the people from Birmingham were being treated unfairly and unequal. He wanted to spread equality throughout the country. Then, Henry David Thoreau felt like the government gets into peoples ways and felt like if you put a lot of men in charge they will seem to make bad decisions. Throughout his writing he expresses how he feels towards the government. However, I for one feel like Dr. King Jr used less Logos than Thoreau.

Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. himself writes, "One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust." In other words, Dr. King Jr. believes that some laws are unjust due to their unfairness or inequality. I agree that some people have a right to morally but responsibly disobey unjust laws if they do not equalize. Ethos plays into factor, since his character answered that there is two types of laws unjust and just. He strongly believes there is two types of laws since one advocates breaking and then obeying such laws.

However, in Thoreaus writing he doesn't use authorities or examples he just using a deductive type of reasoning. 

For example Thoreau writes, “The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it." What Thoreau is basically trying to say in my belief is that people have chosen to execute their will towards the government; whereas, they do not know that the government can easily abuse their will before the people can act against it. This claim is a logos statement because it he is trying to persuade us by the use of reasoning. 

In conclusion, both writings share logos, but Dr. Kings writing sides more with inductive and Thoreau sides more with the deductive reasoning. Ultimately, these are both good writings that are trying to get their point heard throughout everyone. 

Letter from Birmingham Jail (ethos)

Salvador Lopez 

Professor Baer

English 5B

12:00-12:00pm

Letter From Birmingham Jail (ethos)

The writing, “The Letter From Birmingham Jail ” by Martin Luther King Jr. sets a strong and straightforward tone from the very beginning with powerful diction to explain himself in a well mannered way. Nevertheless, it is a response letter he wrote while he was imprisoned for defying the law in Birmingham. The letter was to his eight “fellow clergymen” as King mentions, who wrote an open letter statement criticizing his actions in Birmingham. As a result of the criticisms that crossed his path, King was definitely not flattered and felt the urge to explain his actions and explain why it was not erroneous for him to do. Thus, he decides to automatically respond and give an explanation in his letter to every criticism his clergymen wrote about him. This letter that King wrote has various examples of ethos. 

As King mentions in his speech, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow 
we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation.”His use of ethos towards Lincoln was 
influential because Lincoln was an excellent president who empowered several Americans throughout 
the civil war. Later, he earned respect and trust from America and created a new form of freedom. In 
other words, King is just referring back to Lincoln and his stance on civil rights. Here, he is providing 
a powerful ethos appeal and is building credibility with his audience who have gathered on the day of 
March on Washington.
Furthermore, Martin Luther King Jr. states, " We have some eighty-five affiliate organizations all across the South, one being the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights." In making this comment, Dr. King Jr. urges the clergy men to believe that there is more organizations other than the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Dr. King Jr. refers back to his other organization to inform the clergy men that they want to spread equality throughout the country. In order to spread equality, the segregated city of Birmingham has to realize segregation is unfair and consider desegregating. 

Salvador Lopez

Professor Baer

English 5B

MWF 12:00-12:50PM

Letter from Birmingham Jail (Pathos)

This letter was for the clergy men of the Birmingham Jail. In this letter from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we can point out certain Rhetorical situations that others might not see when they first read it. Therefore, i will be pointing out certain examples of Pathos from this letter. 

When i read this article for the first time i did not focus on the rhetorical aspect of it; however, after reading it an knowing about rhetorical situations some quotes in the letter stood out to me as pathos, ethos, and logos. For example, Dr.King wrote,"We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights." In this quote Dr. King uses pathos by sharing to us that people have waited 340 years for rights. This is a lot of years for someone to be waiting. He uses the years as  reference to say how much more do they have to wait? He wants to inform them that they have been waiting a long period, and they want their rights just like everyone else in the country. 

Furthermore, Dr.King also addressed to the clergy men,"There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in this nation" Dr.King points out to the reader that the colored don't have the same treatment as the whites do. King shares to us that if a colored persons belongings,premises, or themselves are destroyed upon, they don't worry for them as much as they would care for a white person getting hurt. King points out the injustice there is in Birmingham. He wants others to realize it just as bad as he does. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never wanted to get revenge because it would get him no where, they would just consider him as another criminal. However, he non-violently wrote them this letter addressing them of the deeply segregated city.