Friday, February 26, 2016
Pathos of "It's a Dark Day in Our Nation"
Pathos refers to the values and the beliefs of the intended audience. This speech was actually a sermon given at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Because of this, the intended audience in this case was probably directed to Christians. Christian people are generally less likely to succumb to violence in many potential situations. Obviously because it was a war, people gave their lives fighting in the Vietnam War, as they were killed by enemy fire. Murder is also considered to be a sin in the Christian faith. By Martin Luther King giving this sermon, he may be appealing to the emotions of Christian people. Violence and murder are two aspects that are frowned upon by everybody, but definitely by the Christian community. By appealing to certain aspects that are forbidden by the bible and the Christian faith, Martin Luther King is sure to receive a stronger response from Christians opposed to regular people. - Justin
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While I do believe that Christians were a part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s audience, I do not they were his main audience. I believe that civil rights activists were the main targets if his speech. He used Christianity as a tool, but I would not say that it was his main focus.
ReplyDelete-Patrick Forbus
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ReplyDeleteI agree that his anti-war sentiment probably appealed to many listening to his sermon. But, because he was such a powerful non-violent civil rights advocate, many of those followers felt the same way about violence and the war.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many points in this evaluation of pathos. Also, Dr.King builds emotion using lots of figurative language and imagery such as, "A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. "
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