Similarities Between Lee And Martin Luther King Jr

Both Harper Lee and Martin Luther King Jr. use persuasive techniques in their text. Ethos, Logos and Pathos are the most prominent and are used to advance their purpose; however, Lee most most successfully and efficiently uses persuasive techniques to advance her purpose of demonstrating the racial injustice in her society and of the time. Author Harper Lee and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. are two very influential writers who use persuasive techniques in their writing. Author Harper Lee wrote the book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, which takes place during the great depression. The article is Atticus's closing argument during the trial scene. Martin Luther King Jr. was civil rights activist, speaking out against racism and equality.

employs persuasive techniques in his “Detroit I have a Dream Speech” to advance his purpose of speaking out against racial injustice. King uses the techniques of pathos, evident when he speaks the lines “...one day men will no longer burn our houses and the church of god simply because we want to be free”(King) ;a phrase that supports his purpose by demonstrating evidence of harsh injustice. Although the previous is true, author Harper Lee more effectively employs the use of pathos as persuasive language. Lee uses pathos to support and advance her purpose of demonstrating racial injustice through her characters. Lee demonstrates this in her text when Atticus states “I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pitty does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake” (Lee). This helps advance her purpose as it invokes sympathy from the reader toward the injustice that Tom Robinson is experiencing. Lee uses the words pity and guilt to highlight and advance the emotions Atticus is experiencing, emotions that the reader can also experience. Within Lee's writing, the use of pathos demonstrates the racial injustice the African American community faced in her