Question

tribute to dr. martin luther king, jr. it is true that land does not belong to anyone until they have buried a body in it, then the land of my birth - place belongs to me, dozens of times over. yet the history of my family, like that of all black southerners, is a history of dispossession. we loved the land and worked the land, but we never owned it. and even if we bought land, as my great - grandfather did after the civil war, it was always in danger of being taken away, as his was, during the period following reconstruction. walker my great - grandmother walked as a slave from virginia to georgia - which passes for the walker ancestral home - with a baby on her hips. she lived to be a hundred and twenty - five. my own father knew her as a boy. (it is in memory of this that i chose to keep and embrace my \maiden\ name.) there is a cemetery near our family church where she is buried, but the marker was made of wood and rotted years ago, it is not clear exactly where her body lies. in the same cemetery are many of my mothers people, who have lived in georgia for so long no one remembers where they came from. and my grandfather and grandmother, and, very recently, my father. land does not belong to anyone until they have buried a body in it. the land of my birth - place belongs to me, dozens of times over. the history of my family, like that of all black southerners, is a history of dispossession. we loved the land and worked the land, but we never owned it. and even if we bought land, as my great - grandfather did after the civil war, it was always in danger of being taken away, as his was, during the period following reconstruction. which sentence explains how the use of ethos affects the meaning of the text? by discussing the work put into the land, walker shows why other people wanted to take away the land. walker discusses the role of her great - grandfather to prove how connected her family is.

Explanation:

Ethos is an appeal to ethics. By discussing her family's long - standing connection to the land through generations, including the work put in and the history of dispossession, Walker builds credibility and shows the moral significance of her claim to the land. The first option about discussing work put into the land is more about pathos (emotional appeal) related to the effort. The second option about discussing her great - grandfather to show family connection is more relevant to ethos as it establishes her family's moral standing and long - term relationship with the land.

Answer:

Walker discusses the role of her great - grandfather to prove how connected her family is.