Logos, ethos and pathos

The dominant forms of appeal in the excerpt from Will Jawando’s memoir My Seven Black Fathers: A Young Activist’s Memoir of Race, Family, and the Mentors who Made Him Whole are ethos and pathos. 

Ethos 

 Jawando builds ethos by using his own experience as a biracial Black boy growing up in a non-privileged environment. Jawando mentions his Nigerian father, and the struggle with his Black identity when his parents divorced, and his father moved out. He explains how he was able to find his Black identity through basketball, with Kalfani’s help. The neighborhood where Jawando grew up was a “mostly Black, brown, and immigrant working-class community” (l. 17). Jawando’s identity and background make him the right person to speak about the struggles of Black boys to overcome the limitations of their environment, as they try to achieve their potential. 

Jawando’s biracial heritage helps to make him come across as a reliable writer. Through his upbringing he has ...