Shelby Steele's Use Of Ethos

Shelby Steele uses a select choice of ethos, logos, and pathos to convey feelings “On being Black and Middle Class.” He strongly uses ethos in his essay, because he gives a plethora of logical examples and ideas about his statements. For example, he states, “What became clear to me is that people like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.”Steele uses innocence and guilt in his essay to make the reader to feel bad that the whites were considered more powerful than the blacks. He uses ethos, logos, and pathos throughout his whole essay in order to describe emotion, reasoning, and the character of the speaker.
He strongly uses ethos in his essay, because he gives a plethora of logical examples and ideas about his statements. For example, he states, “What became clear to me is that people like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.”Steele uses ethos in his essay because he gives a plethora of logical examples about his statement. For example when he says, “What became clear to me is that like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double blind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.” Steele uses a cognitive rational response in his use of logos.
For example when he says that his white professor told him this, “Well, but … you’re not really black, I mean, you’re not disadvantaged” Steele responds with,” In his mind my lack of victim status disqualified me from the race itself, More recently I was complimented by a black student for speaking rationally correct English, “proper” English as he put it.” The professor says,” But I don’t really want to talk to you like that,” he went on “why not?” I asked “because then I wouldn’t be black no more.” Another example of logos in which Steele uses reasoning to describe the black middle class is when he says,” The black middle class has always defined its class identity by means of positive images gleaned from middle and upper class white society and by means of negative images of lower- class
backs.” He uses pathos when he was telling the story about Emmett Till being racially victimized.
Steele says, “Emmett was killed and grotesquely mutilated for supposedly looking at or whistling at a white women. Oh, how we probed his story, finding in his youth and Northern upbringings the quintessential embodiment of black innocence, brought down by a white evil so portentous and apocalyptic, so gnarled and hideous, that it left us with a felling not far from awe. By telling story and others like it, we came to feel the immutability of our victimization, its utter indigenousness, as a thing on this earth like dirt or sand or
water.”
Steele’s appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos helped engage the readers more with interesting stories and appealing to the emotions of the audience. Without it the essay wouldn’t be as strong. “What became clear to me is that people like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.”He strongly uses ethos in his essay, because he gives a plethora of logical examples and ideas about his statements. For example, he states, “What became clear to me is that people like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.”He strongly uses ethos in his essay, because he gives a plethora of logical examples and ideas about his statements. For example, he states, “What became clear to me is that people like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.”He strongly uses ethos in his essay, because he gives a plethora of logical examples and ideas about his statements. For example, he states, “What became clear to me is that people like myself, my friend and middle-class blacks generally, are caught in a very specific double bind that keeps two equally powerful elements of our identity at odds with each other.”