Forms of appeal

In her “We Should All Be Feminists” TED talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses all three forms of appeal. The main form of appeal she relies on is pathos, which engages the audience – particularly African women – on an emotional level.

Pathos

Adichie mainly relies on pathos in her talk. First, she uses personal stories to show that she understands the experiences of African women and that she acknowledges the existence of a problem in the society she lives in. For example, the story in which a journalist tells her that she should not call herself a feminist helps Adichie show that society embraces a flawed definition of feminism. 

Adichie also refers to her own emotions concerning the topics she addresses. In the following example, Adichie expresses her frustration regarding the waiters who ignore her because she is a woman:

Each time they ignore me, I feel invisible. I feel upset. I want to tell them that I am just as human as the man, that I'm just as worthy of acknowledgment. These are little things, but sometimes it's t...