Ethos in Three Writers - Essay Example

Ethos in Three are very important to the world because they provide informationin different forms. Writers are responsible for the ideas and thoughts that are put onto paper and enter on the Internet. With this information people are influenced, moved to tears, moved to stand up for a cause or deeply touched. Robert Kennedy, Brent Staples and David Sedaris are men who have used writing and speaking to influence people or to make them think about important issues. These are the writings chosen for this essay because they all have something different to say about life. ROBERT KENNEDY Robert Kennedy came from a long line of Kennedys who were well thought of and established in the world. Robert had a background in politics stemming from an appointment as a United States Attorney General to a nominee for the president of the United States. Most people will recognize him as a Senator who was assassinated before he was able to make his bid for president. He grew up in what was called a "competitive" family that was very close. (Robert F. Kennedy "Biography"). He was known for battling injustice and organizing people to do move forward on a variety if issues including the Vietnam War, organized crime, and he worked closely to help black Americans find a peaceful place in the world. He was also known for his ability to talk to people without barriers. When Martin Luther King died it was Kennedy that was able to hold people together. Both John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy were proponents of civil rights and they worked well within many communities, particularly with blacks and other disenfranchised persons (Robert F. Kennedy "Biography"). This is the information that creates ethos for Robert Kennedy and what lead to his speech in front of a mostly black crowd in Indianapolis. He was well respected by most people in the black community and this was one of the reasons that he was one of the only white men who could have addressed the crowd that day. He was also qualified to speak about Martin Luther King because he believed in what Martin stood for and had been actively helping with civil rights. Kennedy was a strong orator and he understood what to say to people to get them to do what he was asking. On that night, he also used his compassion and his emotions to give people what they needed in order to move them forward. Another reason this worked for him was because his speech was very much like a speech that Dr. King would have made: What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in The United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States Is not violence and lawlessness… (Robert F. Kennedy On the Death…). These words are an excellent example of the types of passionate speeches that Martin Luther King gave and people were ready to hear this from a man they knew who had understood their pain. Kennedy had already established himself as a writer, orator and statesman so he was already established as an authority. His style was passionate and it appealed to peoples emotions; this is why it worked for him. BRENT STAPLES The "New York Times" is a well respected news paper that has a reputation for producing excellent writers and reporters. Brent Staples writes editorials for the New York Times. He also holds a PhD from the University of Chicago in psychology and he has received several prestigious award for his writing. In researching Staples it was interesting to see that he writes on a variety of topics. A lot of what he says is about race and how it affects black people but he also writes about other things that are unjust. In "Black Men And Public Space" he gives the readers an idea of what it has been like for him to be a black man in America. Staples writing is crisp and filled with emotion. He lets the reader understand what it has been like for him in the story. He particularly talks about racial identity and how it affects what he does. As an example, on the PBS website there is a video where he states that racial identity can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand this can be a liberating situation because as a black journalist you have a broader way of thinking but on the other hand a black journalist may not get the top stories. This is one of many topics that he has written about that evoke emotion in his readers. Kennedy and Staples share the fact that they both use passion to get their points across. They are very comfortable with showing this side of themselves while writing to their audience. The subject of racial identity is close to the heart of Staples because he has lived through it. For the audience, this is part of how he uses ethos because most people see the authority in someone who has lived their topic. They also respect someone who ahs not only lived through a situation but who has created a better life because of it. The tone and style of his work gives people an idea of what life is like from a different perspective and because he is black, most people would automatically think that he would be an authority on this topic. Like Kennedy, Staples has stood for civil rights and he wants to make people think about those things that are wrong with our society. Staples also has the ability, like Kennedy did, to bring people immediately into his writing. By this action and by giving the readers a visual orientation through his writing, the reader accepts what both men said as true. Kennedy established ethos through his ability to speak as a great orator. He had a way with words that kept the audience sitting on the edge of their seats and influenced them to take action. He also was able to convince people to do the things he wanted them to do. Staples is able to establish ethos in a similar way because of his way with words. When he tells the reader in his article that, "my first victim was a woman-white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties" (page), the reader begins to see images and may at first think he is talking about a crime. This sentence immediately draws the reader into his life and he never stops keeping the reader involved. DAVID SEDARIS Sedaris is a best selling author who is also an NPR (National Public Radio) commentator, humorist and a prolific writer. He has written many personal essays and known for his political and personal satire. Because of his tie with NPR, a well respected agency, and his best selling books, he has credibility with his readers and the public. Unlike Kennedy and Staples, Sedaris does not use emotion to get his ideas across; instead, he uses satire and humor. He has been compared with Garrison Keeler who was a NPR commentator that talked about life in small towns. Satire, according to dictionary.com, is "a literary composition" that holds human folly up to "scorn, derision or ridicule". In his story, "Me Talk Pretty One Day", Sedaris talks about his experience taking French in Paris. This was not an easy situation for him to be in especially because of the teacher that he had. He found her mean, angry and upsetting. Sedaris has a different tone than Kennedy or Staples in that he relies on humor rather than passion. He probably was the class clown because although is short story is funny, it is also tragic in a sense. This short story talks about Paris and the classroom where he sat with several other people who were attempting to learn French; this could have easily been a classroom in the United States where people were learning Spanish as their second language. The way he describes the classroom: "the first day of class was nerve-racking because I knew Id be expected to perform. Thats the way they do it here--its everybody into the language pool, sink or swim." (11). brings the reader into the story quickly. There is also a bit of apprehension for the reader because most people have tried to learn at least one foreign language. This sentence sets the stage to see what is going to happen next because everyone remembers their first time in a foreign language classroom. Sedaris also uses a style that also includes what the teacher said to the class and to him instead of the essay styles that Kennedy and Staples used. This brings the reader into the humanity aspect of his writing because from the beginning they are going to make judgments about the teacher and his other classmates. The dialogue that he uses puts the teacher in a very bad light. She is mean, impatient, and somewhat condescending to her students. He never tells whether the teacher is French or some other language which keeps the reader guessing. The teacher is sarcastic to her students. When a student uses the word "mosquito" (which could be the wrong word used) the teacher states that everyone loves the mosquito and ridicules the girl by saying, "How very interesting. I thought that everyone loved the mosquito, but here, in front of the world, you claim to detest him." (12). With this and the rest of the sentence the audience is automatically feeling a time when a teacher belittled them for a "not quite right" answer. Where Kennedy and Staples make their readers feel something inside that resonates with their topics, Sedaris makes the reader feel like crawling under their desk. The simple fact that the teacher is being nasty to most of the students is Sedaris way of helping the reader understand the experience. There are some parts of this experience that are funny and others that are sad or spiteful. The reader is not given a reason why this women is so mean and it seems that everyone in the class is just taking this behavior and continuing the class. This is very much what many people in our society do, including students in classrooms across the world; they learn to take what the teacher, boss or other authority dishes out without question because they are seen as the authority. For Sedaris, the other students in the class are what makes him keep going. He and his classmates were together in the abuse that they received from the teacher. The tone of his writing gives the reader a chance to decide whether this is a person to care about and whether they should stay with the reading. Because he is good at humor, Sedaris keeps the reader reading because they want to see what happens in the end. Of the three writers, Sedaris is the most difficult to read because much of the writing is showing instead of telling the story. He uses ethos by showing that he has written a lot and has the background like Staples. The story is about what happened to him but it is difficult to know who to care about in the story. Works Cited Brent Staples. PBS Modern Journalists. 19 July 2009. David Sedaris. David Barclay Agency. 19 July 2009 , http://www.barclayagency.com/ sedaris.html>. Satire. Dictionary Reference. 19 July 2009. . Robert F. Kennedy. RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. 19 July 2009. . Robert F. Kennedy on the Death of Martin Luther King. 4 April 1968. The History Place: Great Speeches Collection. 19 July 2009. Read More