ipl-logo

Cesar Chavez Speech Rhetorical Analysis

1036 Words5 Pages

Ronith Murali 4th hour Mrs.Schmidt AP Language & Composition During the 60’s in America, the civil rights movements for African Americans was at it’s peak. Following Martin Luther King’s assassination, the common response to the tragedy was violence. Cesar Chavez writes this article in hopes of informing the American people that violence is not the answer, and that if they continued on King’s non-violent path to equality, it would bring about more change. When looking at Cesar Chavez ‘s article, one can clearly see that he is easily able to persuade his vengeful audience to cease the violent protests throughout America, by utilizing several examples of juxtaposition, rhetorical appeals, and impactful diction. Chavez makes sure to employ …show more content…

In the very beginning of the essay, Chavez is able to tie nonviolence to power which supports one of his major claims that non-violent protests still provides an opportunity for the oppressed to “stay on the offensive.” This is able to give the audience the impression that non-violent protests is clearly connected to influence. The author then goes on to mention that people who truly concerned about others will continue on the path of nonviolence. This gives the reader no choice, but to continue in King’s footsteps if they sincerely care about the people in their life. As the article progresses, Chavez’s diction seems to become harsher. In paragraph 4, Chavez describes a possible outcome of violent protests as a “total demoralization of the workers,” but in paragraph 12, he states that only the poor, the workers “get killed in the case of a violent revolution.” This shift in diction is able to convince his audience that violence has repercussion greater than they can fathom. Even though Chavez tries to sympathize with his audience that “we are not blind to feelings of frustration” he makes it clear that there must be a balance between peaceful and violent protests ,and that we also must have the strength to be patient in times of anguish. The line, “Those who espouse violence exploit people”(Paragraph 12), serves the intention of bashing

Show More
Related
800 Words | 4 Pages

The Gospel of Cesar Chavez: My Faith in Action, by Mario T. Garcia, uses Cesar Chavez’s own words to express his spiritual and religious personality and how it led him to organize a movement for a change in the farm workers’ lifestyle of America. Through his experiences and observations with religion and spirituality growing up, Cesar created his own myth by conveying nonviolence and self-sacrifice as the basis of his American religious experience. Thus, paving the way towards reform for farm workers. To be able to understand Cesar’s motive behind his movement, violence and nonviolence needs to be distinguished. A violent movement is a protest that is set up to achieve a goal by using violent acts (riots, house raids, etc.).

Read More
412 Words | 2 Pages

The audience that Chavez is addressing is very familiar with Dr. King, and the troubles he went through so it is not hard at all to relate to the audience with ideas of Martin Luther King. “ Nonviolence provides the opportunity to stay on the offensive, and that is a crucial importance to win any contest.” With subject of violent an nonviolent means is so important to almost everyone that it makes almost everyone stand on their toes. With the subject Chavez does a good job of stating “we” instead of “I” because of

Read More
786 Words | 4 Pages

(Chavez 1) His nonviolent approach to difficulties still have a huge aftermath in our world and change it for the better. The author really emphasizes the trueness of King’s character and his example to our struggling lives to make a better world. Additionally, Chavez uses emotion to change the readers view to the capability nonviolence has. For example, “We are convinced that when people are faced with a direct

Read More
651 Words | 3 Pages

He insists on the fact that inhumane vengeance will lead to injury and death, as well as “demoralization”. This argument is greatly supported by the death of Dr. King Jr; his view of nonviolence helped to grow and mature the farm worker’s movement. Civil workers are guilted into supporting their fallen hero in order to fulfill his dying wish. Chavez instructs them to “overcome… [their] frustrations” and support their causes through methods of peaceful protests. Chavez, appealing to their sense of emotion, manages to persuade a disconnected society by desperately wanting to avenge Dr. King’s untimely

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

It contains a series of interviews conducted by Bob Fitch with Cesar Chavez. It focuses on the grape boycott of California and the tactics Chavez used. Bob Fitch visited Cesar Chavez and the farm workers and explained their plight. The words of the workers were important in supporting the thesis of this research. This article focuses on why Chavez did what he did, why he took matters into his own hands, and risked everything he had to help the migrant farm workers.

Read More
662 Words | 3 Pages

To begin with, Chavez uses logos in his speech through a rhetorical question, “Who gets killed in the case of violent revolution? The poor, the workers.” The people who are arguing for violent revolutions are mostly poor workers whom Chavez refers to. Chavez uses logic to show these people that if they use violent revolts, they are most likely the ones going to be killed which for the most part will deter the people who are aiming for this. Another appeal Chavez uses is ethos to show everyone as people we are expected to do the right thing.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

The United Farm Workers website stated that the agreement was infringed. Because of this, Chavez’ father came to the conclusion that he should hire a lawyer. As stated in United Farm Workers, Chavez’ lawyer suggested that he take out a loan. Unfortunately, things did not go as expected for Chavez’ father.

Read More
612 Words | 3 Pages

In order to achieve true freedom one must discover that you can break unjust laws through peaceful protest. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and “The Speech at The March Washington” by Josephine Baker each article passionately argues about the disadvantages of the black community, the equality and power of education. We must learn to act with patients and not guns we must protect are self’s with a pen and paper not violence. Dr. King once4 said “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is unique in history which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.

Read More
1069 Words | 5 Pages

He uses logos in the form of looking at past history and analyzing the downfalls of violent resistance, to emphasize how violence has many strings attached to it, whereas the more peaceful nonviolent route allows for greater freedom and less risk to the general population. Heavy diction is used to create a separation between violence and nonviolence, shining a bright light onto violence as a negative way to deal with problems, while lifting nonviolence as a means of powerful hand to win any “competition”. It was important for Chavez to remind his audience that nonviolence is the method of choice when fighting for change as it was the 10th anniversary of MLK’s death, an important leader in the civil rights movement who used the power of nonviolence as a method to induce change for the black community. At the time of Chavez’s writing, many farmers were upset over a crash in the agriculture market, with many farmers left with little to no money and no help from the government. Chavez wanted to inform these people of the importance of nonviolence as a way to get their ideas through, as violence would resolve nothing and lead to greater disruptions which would affect the entirety of the American population.

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

Featured by his nonviolent actions (boycotts, pickets, and strikes), Chavez accomplished his last fight in 1988, in a 36-day fast. Risking his life, he inspired people who supported to believe in a world of equality. Furthermore, Chavez accomplishments brought a new community and environment to Mexican

Read More
1099 Words | 5 Pages

For example, he utilizes diction to designate violence with a negative connotation. He interprets, “… we are not blind to the feelings of frustration, impatience, and anger which seethe inside every farm worker. The burdens of generations of poverty and powerlessness lie heavy in the fields of America. If we fail, there are those who will see violence as the shortcut to change” (Chavez 7). Chavez selects words including “frustration”, “anger”, and “powerlessness” to describe violence.

Read More
873 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King then lead his followers to a peaceful march, a protest for equal rights, that landed them on a historical bridge. This march helped encourage the voting rights act, and to help the civil rights keep moving forward. Thesis: In his speech, Obama establishes a rhetorical situation with his of exigence, audience, purpose, and different rhetorical appeals and devices.

Read More
432 Words | 2 Pages

Non-Violence Resistance Essay Remembering the everlasting impacts that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought to this world, labor union organizer and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez emphasizes the importance of nonviolent acts in his article. Chavez believes that the positives of nonviolent acts highly outweigh the endless negatives that violent acts bring upon a community. By effectively implementing nonviolent acts into everyday life, Chavez explains that they are “more powerful than violence” through contrast and anecdotes. Chavez provides the basic morals of human life that “no one has the right to take it for any reason or for any cause, however just it may be” in order to emphasize the unjust effects that violent acts bring upon the world.

Read More
845 Words | 4 Pages

Chavez asserts repeatedly that nonviolence is the only way for change to happen. The repeated use of “we”, “us” and “our” conveys the message to the audience that he is one of them. Chavez can relate to the farm workers based on his credibility (ethos) because of his past. Chavez went to work on the farm fields at a young age and knew exactly how the frustrated workers felt.

Read More
409 Words | 2 Pages

In a magazine article by Cesar Chavez on the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, Chavez discusses the advantages of nonviolent resistance versus violent resistance, arguing that “nonviolence is more powerful than violence.” Chavez successfully develops his argument for nonviolent resistance by utilizing the rhetorical strategies of repetition and allusion. Chavez utilizes the rhetorical strategy of repetition throughout the article, repeating words like “nonviolent” and “we” to develop his and others’ stance on nonviolent resistance. Whenever Chavez states the word “nonviolent”, it is usually followed by its positive effects. For example, in the quote “nonviolence supports you if you have a just moral cause,” the word nonviolence is stated and is followed by its positive effect of supporting those with a righteous reasoning,

Read More

More about Cesar Chavez Speech Rhetorical Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document