Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham jail” is a mix of emotional passion and logical precision that seeks to achieve meaningful cause. The letter was a response to white clergy who were critical of his intention in Birmingham naming him an “outsider”. King’s response to critics through a letter explains his arguments vividly and effectively. King wrote the letter in a way that he agreed with his critics, nonetheless still using their words against them in logic harmony. King’s letter illustrates the three artistic proofs used to convince an audience. This paper will discuss the ethos, pathos, and logos modes of persuasion as well as writing structure as seen in King’s “The letter from Birmingham jail”.
King’s letter
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Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (Jnr, 2012).
King’s letter also appeals to the emotions. He uses pathos to appeal to his audience and at the same time influence them. For instance, he uses overwhelming truths to justify his actions he says, “When you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a negro , living constantly in tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect” this will explain to the audience why it is difficult for him and his contemporaries to wait (Jnr, 2012).
King is expressive in answering his critics because of his ability to respond eloquently without invoking anyone, his ability to see both sides of the argument, and because of his aptitude to appeal to moral certitude. He poses fruitful questions and according to Savini, good questions guide someone towards developing constructive arguments (Savini, 2012, p. 57). For instance, King posses very constructive questions like “Why direct action? Why attend, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path? ” (Jnr, 2012). It is worth to note that not all questions are good, so one needs to assess the questions in a variety of contexts to determine if they help their cause (Savini, 2012, p. 57).
King is weary of his primary audience as well as the secondary one. He writes the letter specifically as an answer to Birmingham’s clergymen. When writing it is important to
The majority of the sentences in King’s letter can be connected to logos, pathos or ethos and his incorporation of appeals is masterful.
King uses a vast amount of emotion into his letter to the clergymen. He believes it will show people how much the colored people go through and hurt physically and emotionally. Colored people are humiliated everywhere they go, by Caucasian people or even the local grocery stores that have racial signs posted out front. There “came the opportunity to talk with leaders of
King uses strong rhetoric efforts and appeals to his primary audience with tone, knowledge, and religion. Dr. King’s tone in this letter varies but it was all done with a specific purpose- to move his audience.
Many times, disagreements fail to bring an understanding to opposing sides because each side has different views on the subject at hand. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attempts to establish an adequate definition of “just” and “unjust” laws. King knew he could not directly argue his beliefs of segregation because the clergymen made clear they were not impressed with anti-segregationists breaking the law. He knew in order to make a valid rebuttal he could not cause confrontation. What is most interesting about the letter is the style of writing King uses to argue for righteousness which compels the reader to share his views of anti-segregation.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a key figure in the civil rights movements that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is an open letter written by King defending nonviolent resistance against racism. The letter argued that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust and unethical laws. The letter also stresses themes of unity among brothers in order to overcome racism. I will argue in support of King’s stance that citizens are morally justified in breaking unjust laws and that openly and responsibly opposing unjust laws is itself a duty of every citizen.
King uses irony, by giving examples of him using peaceful actions that were condemned anyway because they were said to ?precipitate violence?. He went on to say, ?Isn?t that like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated in the evil act of robbery??(King 563). Dr. King also realizes that the white moderates are mostly religious. He reminds them ?Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability, it comes through tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God??(King 563). Again, he urges the audience to get up and become active, and that there will be no change without their action.
He talked about racism, a non-violent approach, freedom and what should be demanded by the government. King showed these topics go hand in hand and you can't talk about one without bringing up another. Like explaining racism and all the things happening to his brothers and sisters it was almost inevitable that he mentioned how him and followers were able to used a peaceful protest to make a statement against violence, instead of reacting out of emotions with violence. King then talked about freedom should be granted, no matter the race. King thought that nobody should stand for being the last to receive what’s technically was theirs when it came to freedom, he believed we shouldn’t wait for the government, but demand freedom from the government.“Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds”(King page 1). He felt that living in the USA, freedom is
The intent of Dr. King was to address his reasoning for being in Birmingham and to expound upon what the clergyman called unwise and untimely. In the initiation of the letter he explains his position in society. He was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and a civil rights activist who fought for equality of all regardless of ethnicity. His main focus was to induce equality into Birmingham instead of segregation. His position was the voice of the black community and he was known by many, including the president of the United States. He was also a pastor who had political and biblical knowledge and understanding like his “fellow clergyman.” In the
He begins his letter by stating that he is writing this letter “while confined here in the Birmingham City Jail” (King 2). However although one in such conditions for being wrongly convicted and forced to write this within small jail walls would be expected to be hostile, King’s tone is instead calm and patient. He addresses his attackers as “my dear fellow clergymen” (2). And even apologized that they expressed different opinions (3). This, to an open audience, gives
Some varieties of inspiration come as passionate love while others appeal as injustice as did Martin Luther King in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Martin Luther King Jr. effectively crafted his counter argument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen, and then using logos, pathos, and ethos to refute his opponent's statements and present his own perspective. After stating the general purpose of his letter, Martin Luther King Jr. specifically addressed the clergymen to set up for his logical counterargument.
One powerful example of King’s pull on the reader’s consciousness in his letter is on page three when he refutes the argument of the Clergymen saying that Colored people should just “wait”. While many words truly stand out, King’s true effect was mastered by the appeal to the parents in the group, “When you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: “Daddy, why white people treat colored people so mean” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail” 3)Then again, “humiliation day in and day out by nagging signs” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail 3) and even further, when “you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” (“Letter from Birmingham Jail 3). Another element that helps support King’s point in his letter is the fervent repetition of his blatant disappointment in more than simply the clergymen, but their Christian faith and the churches in service within Alabama during this time. King repeats how disappointed he was in the “common whites” also and their bystander reactions to racial issues. The fact that this man, a minister, “beneath” the said extremist white clergymen, and inhabiting a jail cell during that time, who was disappointed in people showed a true depth which hit the audience profoundly. (King)
Martin Luther King Jr. writes the Clergymen that have written him a letter disputing his actions in Birmingham. King is disturbed and offended by the Clergymen disagreeing with his purpose in Birmingham. King say he normally does not respond to criticism because it would waste to much precious time, but since these were men of good will he wanted to give his answers to their statements. In King's letter he appeals to many emotions as pathos, ethos, and logos to appeal to his audience.
After being criticized about his presence in Birmingham by white clergy in a letter published in the Birmingham newspaper, Martin Luther King set out to not only establish why he was in Birmingham, but also to establish moral, legal, and ethical cause to his platform and the resultant peaceful protests he had been promoting, all of which lead to his arrest and the reason he was in jail. Martin Luther King established early on in the letter his credibility as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and also that he was in Birmingham due to an invitation as a result of his organizational ties. Mr. King also went on to elaborate about his personal reason for being there due to a great injustice to the black people that prevailed in Birmingham. Mr. King used the artistic proofs of ethos, logos and pathos to establish his credibility and persuade or convince his audience in the relevance of his platform.
When he was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama he then fell under criticism by white clergy for coming to Birmingham as an “outsider” to cause trouble and increase tension through public sit-ins and marches. I feel that Martin Luther King was able to both set aside that criticism by establishing his credibility to have not only been invited to come to Birmingham to help end the injustice to the Negro people via peaceful means, but he was able to identify moral, legal and ethical cause to promote his quest to put a stop to what he identified as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King, 2017, p, 3). I will provide a summary that will show what Martin Luther King believed were the cause of the injustice that he was striving to end to as well as his concern over the white community’s ability to make the Negro “wait for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights.”
To be able to counterattack, one must know where the attack is coming from, hence analyzing the audience. By doing so, King is able to address his audience appropriately. In the preface, the