Constable Barrymore's Death: A Short Story

The ability to write a powerful persuasive piece results from total awareness of available rhetorical devices as well as inspiration and determination. Over the course of “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, the author Martin Luther King Jr., demonstrates that he can effectively employ the use of rhetoric elements. The rhetorical strategy and context are two vital literary elements within a piece of writing that can be used to make a strong argument while appealing to the audience. King uses a combination of rhetorical techniques to rebut the criticisms of his fellow Clergymen about the nature of the Birmingham protests. King uses quotes from past civil rights leaders and vivid metaphors/similes to make a persuasive argument. He also uses

Immediately as the speech begins, Henry’s tone manifests itself and remains unwavering. Henry begins, “It is natural for a man to indulge in the illustration of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth” (1). This sheds insight on his message and portrays him as a well versed individual. He then strengthens his tone when he says

I peered around through the rain, desperately searching for some shelter, I was drowning out here. The trouble was, I wasn’t in the best part of town, and in fact it was more than a little dodgy. I know this is my home turf but even I had to be careful. At least I seemed to be the only one out here on such an awful night. The rain was so powerfully loud I couldn’t hear should anyone try and creep up on me. I also couldn’t see very far with the rain so heavy and of course there were no street lights, they’d been broken long ago. The one place I knew I could safely enter was the church, so I dashed.

 The Lynching n.d., Genius, accessed 24 August 2015, .

I have selected two speeches both of which I felt were written to connect with their audience and be persuasive. The first speech by indigenous Australian rights activist Faith Bandler, is aptly named “Faith, Hope and Reconciliation” 1999, the second speech is “Funeral Service of the Unknown Australian Soldier” presented by the honorable Paul Keating, 1993. In the following case study I will be exploring and reviewing and evaluating the intellectual and artistic qualities of these two speeches, with reference also to Sir William Deane’s speech on the canyoning tragedy of 1999.

The primary goal of a sermon in church is to convince or persuade the congregation to turn to God and follow his ways and beliefs. A sermon is commonly broken up into several subsections beginning with “(1) an introduction ‘to establish a common ground of religious feeling’; (2) ‘a statement of the text’ which is often drawn directly from the Bible; (3) the ‘body of the sermon,’ which consists of repeated emotional climaxes; and (4) the ‘conclusion’ which resolves the emotional tension aroused by the sermon by drawing the sinners to God.” (Pipes 143). Based on these characteristics and King’s religious background and experience as a preacher, it is logical to argue that the structure of “A Letter from the Birmingham Jail” resembles that of a sermon which is aimed at an audience much larger than that of just eight clergymen. Through his brilliant use of persuasive methods and emotional appeal, Martin Luther King turns a simple response to a letter into a national cause for white support to combat segregation.

For this paper, I will critique Wendell Phillip’s speech, “Murder of Lovejoy”, and examine it in relation to its history, audience, speaker, and purpose. It is considered one of the greatest rhetorical successes of the era, and one of the only speeches where the speaker’s goal can be seen taking effect. It is also notable for being both spontaneous and directly after an opposing speech.

King develops and refines his ideas in “The Letter From Birmingham Jail” to purify and increase the power of his argument. In multiple paragraphs, this technique is used to persuade the reader into looking at the point of view King presents. King uses this technique by inserting many rhetorical questions, allusions, anaphoras.

‘“I can accept the shooting was a mistake,” Jones said about his daughter’s death as a bleary-eyed Stanley sat motionless next to him. “But I can’t accept it because they lied about it. I can’t heal properly because of it. It was all for the cameras. I don’t want no apology from the police. It’s too late”’ (LeDuff, 122).

In this story, Dubus invites the reader to mull over the disparity between people’s ethical responsibility to society and the primal urge to protect and avenge their loved ones. At the end of the story, Matt tells Ruth what happened, but it is clear that he feels deep remorse for the action he has taken. He, his wife and friend Trottier will be forever scarred by the responsibility of keeping the secret of murder. Nevertheless, Dubus does not judge Matt and label him either a hero or a sinner; he simply presents the ethical problem to the reader.

Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is effective with convincing the audience of the emotional trials

“We have somewhere to be.” Malessica said. “I’m in the city all the time, you can take pictures any other day.”

In his, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. demands justice through non-retaliation. He addresses eight clergymen challenging the morality of their unjust proposal. King uses several rhetorical devices to bring attention to the injustice that the clergymen were numb to. His high education and credibility evokes interest to his letter. He gets his points across by approaching the greater audience with emotion and an urgent tone. By appealing to the audience’s pathos, ethos, and logos, he signals an uproar within the community to stipulate justice.

He starts to build more of assertive fact stating tone to his speech. It helps his case in this point because he starts to tell the minority to ,”stop living life with the burdens of our past and stop becoming victims of the past,”(5) . The passion he is using just gives the the people an example of how far he has gotten as a minority. The hall in which he is speaking can feel his tone and take it to consideration when it comes ,” for better health care and better schools and jobs,” (6). He confronts issues and straightforward and shows that he is a problem solver. He always believes that people are the very on own history changer and destiny chasers. He knows what his supporter want to hear and need to hear. Not shying away from the elephant in the room. He addresses his former pastors statements and provides his solution statement. Allowing the audience to understand that you can have all the help you can get but at the end of the day the person that really can help you is yourself. ,” self help requires a belief that society can change ,”(6). The people who sinned back then their ancestors should have the stamp on them as being like their past. Everyone deserves redemption and a chance to prove their

He paled, ‘Keep your voice down, people outside might hear’, he shut the door behind him and stepped in the room.