Ethos Pathos Logos

Nelson Mandela uses ethos, pathos, and logos in both “I Am Prepared to Die” and Long Walk to Freedom to develop a central argument to prove his innocence and persuade his audience of the inequalities he has experienced as a black man fighting for what he believes is right. Mandela is convincing his audience that he is guilty and worthy of justice and equal rights.

Mandela uses logos as the foundation to defend his argument for a free, nonracial South Africa. Mandela’s strongest use of logos in “I Am Prepared to Die” comes in paragraph three when he states the statistics of poverty, malnutrition, and disease affecting Africans. The quote reads,

“Poverty goes hand in hand with malnutrition and disease. The incidence of malnutrition

He clearly lays out the injustice and hardships that the Africans encountered. He advances his argument by stating the devastating effect it had on the majority of Africans and the lasting impact it continues to have on the entire community. Furthermore in Long Walk to Freedom Mandela shares about an unjust society. “You don’t agree that it would be irregular for a prime minister to ignore a letter raising vital issues affecting the vast majority of the citizens of the country?” (327) Mandela raises awareness of the injustices that the African people are fighting for. He uses the approach of rhetorical questioning to allow the audience to reflect back on the situation. He phrases his question in a way that makes the prime minister come across as disrespectful and uncivil. Mandela's use of logos within his analytical reasoning on the unfair divide in South Africa demonstrates that it is a result of the government's powers and actions. He uses the technique of cold arguments – like common sense – to convince the people of the manner, rather than trying to appeal to an audience's

White supremacy implies black inferiority… When anything has to be carried or cleaned the white man will look around for an African to do it for him, whether the African is employed by him or not. Because of this sort of attitude, whites tend to regard Africans as a separate breed. They do not look upon them as people with families of their own; they do not realize that we have emotions—that we fall in love like white people do; that we want to be with our wives and children like white people want to be with theirs; that we want to earn money, enough money to support our families properly, to feed and clothe them and send them to school. And what 'house-boy' or 'garden-boy' or laborer can ever hope to do this?” (I Am Prepared To