Molly O'Neil

10/16/10
English 11
The Grey Area

Through out the history of man, people have been using emotions to

bury messages in a general audience's mind. This form of manipulation is

called "pathos." Pathos targets all emotions but normally relates to the fear

in the recipient and is very commonly used in major political and influential

forms of writing. Emotional triggers are commonly found in most of the

writings of MLK Jr. and almost all documents written by Thomas Jefferson

from the United States revolution. Although MLK and Jefferson can be

considered men with different causes, one can argue that they share

common strategies in order to emotionally appeal to their followers.

In order to evoke emotions from large groups of people, one has to find

a general interest within the majority of that population. In "Letter from

Birmingham City Jail," MLK uses references to religion in order to relate

heavily to the internal feelings of his audience. An example of this is when

King writes, "I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this

decisive hour." He is successfully using the church to reach out to a range of

people who share an interest in religion. Jefferson includes similar ideas in

the Declaration of Independence. Within the Declaration, the author writes,

"The history of the present king of Great Britain...absolute tyranny over

these states." This arouses an ambience of vengeance towards the crown

and effectively stimulates the response that is needed. This grand design
leads to another kind of luring in tactic that both men use, ethos.

Ethos is the character of the speaker or in this case, the author. MLK

and Jefferson both share a strong ethos making them both very powerful

writers. Throughout the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson is savvy to

convey his ethos in such a way that it makes the reader want to agree with

his argument more. What MLK does is, he displays and maintains a strong

ethos for the whole letter and puts himself on the level of the readers. This

was something that both Jefferson and MLK had in common, they could put

themselves in the shoes of their audiences because they too were a part of

their audience.

To have, strong ethos and pathos and emotional appeal, one must also

have knowledge of the intended audience. This method not only allows the

writer to target and maneuver through the viewers mind but also creates a

space where the reader becomes part of the piece of writing. When Jefferson

writes, "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states," he is

bringing the entirety of the colonies into the document. King uses this

approach when he writes, "Before the pilgrims landed at plymouth, we were

here." Both examples are clear to involve the spectators and this is because

the authors used their insight on their followers.

One must know, feel, see, hear and join their studied crowd in order to

formally address them. King and Jefferson did just that, they managed to use

the knowledge that they were given to understand them. It is very important

for a writer to follow these methods such as using pathos and acquiring an
ethos. These techniques are what brought the authors Declaration of

Independence and "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail" together.