Forms of appeal

Logos and ethos

Markle appeals to reason when she uses logical arguments and references factual information, which help her deliver a clear message. Logos is often mixed with ethos in the article.

We encounter logos in Markle’s use of analogy, which helps her logically explain the way in which her mixed heritage affected her self-identification: “Just as black and white, when mixed, make grey, in many ways that’s what it did to my self-identity: it created a murky area of who I was, a haze around how people connected with me. I was grey.” (ll. 254-258)

Logos is also created when Markle references real events such as the 1992 Los Angeles riots and places like Ferguson and Baltimore, as they help her sustain her claim that racism is still a widespread issue in America (ll. 224-231).

Logos can also be found in Markle’s statements about Hollywood and about the process of casting. She explains that producers typically look for actresses with certain physical attributes and specific ethnicities: “‘Beautiful, sassy, Latina, 20s’; ‘African American, urban, pretty, early 30s’; ‘Caucasian, blonde, modern girl next door’ ” (ll. 163-166). This factual information helps Markle explain why it was difficult for her to get acting jobs – s...