Summary Of He Showed Us The Way By Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez constituted an audience for the farm worker’s non-violent movement through history and narrative. Through the use of history and narrative I was able to argue my thesis. Chavez’s rhetoric deployed the necessary constitutive characteristics call into being, trans-historical elements, and an “illusion of freedom,” enabling identity. Without history and narratives the constitutive elements would not exist. The rhetoric used by Cesar Chavez in “He Showed Us the Way” worked because he was asking for people to step forward and take action, using the best tool possible. The main theme of the artifact is nonviolence over violence. Chavez’s use in heavy repetition of the word “nonviolence” sticks with the audience (readers) that violence was not the ultimate solution. His use of association, Dr. King and Christianity, in the text was the attention grabber. Cesar Chavez was successful in using contrast and compare, along with identity, repetition to establish his pathos, logos and ethos.

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. In addition, referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the text further established Cesar Chavez’s ethos. King was someone who was revered by proponents of civil rights. Associating an audience with a prominent figure such as Dr. King adds to the credibility in the rhetoric. Moreover, Chavez uses hypophora when asking, “Who gets killed in the violent revolution?” followed by the answer, “The poor, the