Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

In the text, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. creates a clear, persuasive claim on why non-violent protest are ethical using the rhetorical appeal of pathos. Martin Luther King Jr. also enhances creativity through the use of literary devices such as antithesis. The text states, “All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality,” (King 7). The language of the passage reveals the author’s want for the reader to feel certain emotions while reading. For example, words such as distort and damage illustrate feelings of sadness and anger. Overall, the use of pathos in the text allowed Martin Luther King Jr. to connect on a personal level with the reader. Along with rhetorical

Martin Luther King Junior has many well know words from his “I Have a Dream” speech and from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He uses the literary devices logos and pathos to support his evidence in his speeches and writings. In Martin Luther King Jr’s writings and speeches he uses more pathos throughout. MLK mainly got to your emotions and made you think if what you were doing or thinking was right.

How does one effectively convince another person from a radically contradictory viewpoint? Exemplified by Martin Luther King, Jr., one must be concise, calm, and aware. In August 1963, King composed the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to bring awareness to the severe injustices acted towards his fellow African American people. King kept a collected and professional tone, always reverent to his oppressor’s opinion. His letter addressed and responded to the statement made by a collection of eight, white, male religious leaders of the South. These men verbally attacked King, his credibility, and his intentions, only fueling the fire. The issues these men provoked included, intense racism, segregation, inequality, injustice, and further demeaning factors. The men felt threatened by King and his organization. As a result, King publicized the nonviolent approach he and his organization would take. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King composed a response to the white religious leaders regarding injustice, by utilizing the rhetorical persuasive techniques of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who genuinely knew how to capture his audiences with his words. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” makes an appeal to his reader about the injustices that have been set in place by the oppressor. In the letter he talks about numerous things, mortal authority in Christian communities, American ideas, and the suffering of the African American community. Dr. King uses logos to persuade the reader why he s protesting in the first place because the oppressor has broken the negotiation between the whites and the African American. His logical argument to why the ideal way to proceed with non-violent protests is because of the political decisions that have been made. An example he brings up is the idea of there being just and unjust laws in America and as citizens those unjust should be deliberately disobeyed. Dr. King says, “Conversely, one has a mortal responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all” he soon starts to define what both type of laws means…”A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law…An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the mortal law.” In order to persuade his reader about the idea he has do more than engage with the readers emotions. By Dr. King defining what the difference between the two laws sets a more conceiving idea of the treatment towards African American. Martin Luther King basic point is unjust laws do not just hurt the one being oppressed but also the one doing the oppressing. This is more of logos appeal for the reason he is not trying to connect with the reader emotionally but rather make sure the reader understands his cause for the protests.

Civil rights leader and pastor, Martin Luther King, was arrested April 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, for being head of the protests against anti-segregation. Eight clergymen wrote to him, expressing their opinion on what they think the non-violent protests are causing. Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, uses elements of syntax, techniques of diction, and types of imagery to refute the criticism received from the clergymen and to also address the issue of segregation. King selects anaphora, rhetorical questions, and periodic sentences to achieve his purpose. The author employs anaphora to support his idea.

In the depths of silence and lack of concern, one voice rang out from the confines of the Birmingham jail. A voice that echoes the urgency of justice, equality, and freedom for all. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. created and conveyed his message through appeal to integrity, sentiment, and logical thought in order to persuade his audience to actively address the racial injustice in the country. Martin Luther King Jr. establishes his credibility and trustworthiness through personal integrity and experience. Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrates his commitment to justice by addressing the criticisms of his fellow clergymen.

uses in his letter is ethos. Ethos appeals to an audience, the credibility, and the trustworthiness of the writer and the writer position (Kirszner and Mandell 12, 13). The audience see’s King and his followers are problems causers. The audience does not believe that they have any right to come into the town of Birmingham and protest. King challenges the audience beliefs by saying, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights” (King). This quote shows that king is a leader of a religious organization just like the clergymen. This shows the audience that they and King have something in common: from this the audience sees King a more trustworthy person. King also shows that he is a leader of a large organization that is presented in all the southern states. He also states that the clergymen and King, himself, share staff and resources whenever it is possible. (King) This information gives King a reliable reason for his actions and gives the audience more reasons to trust and agree with his situation. (King)

The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written precisely on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. the letter was written to his co-ministers in reaction to their disapproval about his deeds in Birmingham. This letter was written when there was discrimination in the South. The forcefulness and communal prejudice have created unnecessary heartache and depression among black people, with the way things are going if there is no solution to the problems things might get out of hands. The writer stresses that if they stop the protest there will not be a chance for change, acceptability, and understandings of the blacks to get the right they deserve. In addition, it will be difficult to solve the socioeconomic and human problems rising among the blacks and the whites. In order to defend his wish for racial justice and equality, the writer uses an ethical appeal, logical appeal, and pathetic appeal to earn his audience approval.

King attempts to clarify the injustice of him and other African Americans to the clergymen and anyone else who may be reading. Ethos explains

During the 1960’s, racism was still a prominent problem in America. The Civil Rights Movement was under way. African Americans were fighting for their basic human rights. One of the most notable figures of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr. He fought for African American’s rights using nonviolent resistance; however, during a protest in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King was thrown into jail. While in his jail cell, Dr. King wrote a letter to clergymen from the Birmingham jail claiming his stance on peaceful confrontation on defending African American’s human rights. In his letter, Dr. King uses rhetorical devices to strengthen his argument in his letter to the clergymen. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham

Writing from the heart, expressing feelings, having a strong emotional impact on ones audience, using an appeal to emotion and logic, using facts and presenting arguments in a professional way, to the enlightenment of one's viewers; Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail; consists of three Rhetorical Strategies throughout his letter that is known and taught around the world as ETHOS, PATHOS and LOGOS. An appeal to ethics, a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader (ethos), an appeal to emotion, and a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response (Pathos), and finally, an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason (Logos); these three Rhetorical Strategies are used countless times throughout Martin Luther King’s Letter for Birmingham Jail.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” after an unjust proposal made by eight white clergymen. Their claims were to be that no Negro “outsider” should be allowed to establish or lead any protest and should leave them to their local neighborhoods. King replied directly to the clergymen, but used religious ties to also have his voice heard in the public. In his counter argument, King strategically used logical evidence, emotional aspects and good motives to present his perspective to the clergymen.

Injustice is a big problem in today’s society. Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he addressed many forms of injustices that was present then and continue to be present in today’s world. Martin Luther King did a lot of things that still effect today. He got in trouble for some things as well; such as like protesting how blacks were treated. He was arrested and was sent to Birmingham City Jail. He wrote a letter to defend the strategies of nonviolent resistance to racism. He employs the use of pathos, ethos, and logos to support his argument that nonviolence resistance is definitive. Based on the pathos, ethos, and logos present in this letter, the article is overall effective to this argument.

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

Birmingham was known as one of the most racist cities in the South, but also a place where change needed to take place. King, having been arrested several times before for peaceful protest was in jail in Birmingham for violating law with public demonstrations. He discovered that his methods of bringing awareness to the matter of civil rights was under harsh scrutiny by white members of the church. During his short amount of time in jail, he responded to the criticism by writing one of the most important documents that came out of the Civil Rights movement known as “Letters from a Birmingham Jail”. In this document, King brilliantly displays his writing ability and how he strikes the heart of the nation pointing out his Christian beliefs and the words of the Bible in the fight for equality.