Letter From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

In this passage, King’s presentation of logos is genius. He effectively shows the clergymen two sides of the community, the one of complacency and the other of hatred and cynicism. In this excerpt he does not attempt

King’s emotionally charged words of “lynch” and “brothers” showed sorrow in their lives that create the image of the clergymen to be monsters because of the word choice he used which also would lead to a sense of doubt. These emotions felt by the clergymen allowed room for improvement within society because they started to doubt themselves. King was very skillful with the use of Pathos but he only got his society in lock with the help of other Aristotelian methods.

I interpreted it as King trying to get the clergymen to acknowledge these issues by viewing it from the blacks perspective. When a person is told to look at a situation from a point of view that differs from their own, it opens doors to new perspective and understanding. Also, most people tend to lead by emotion, possibly providing King’s desired outcome of understanding and action.

Thesis: King, utilize metaphors and analogies to appeal to the Clergymen and the city of Alabama with an emotional strategy and an urgent tone to draw the attention of people.

King uses an attacking tone in his next section. In this section, King hits the peak of emotion in his letter.

A student should read the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” just because of how King using Biblical analogies and allusions so effectively. The most common way King uses Biblical references is by comparing the actions of characters in the Bible to his actions. By doing this he is using examples from the Bible to support his behavior. King does this wonderfully on page 90 of his book, “ Why We Can’t Wait” when referring to Socrates conduct and his own conduct. Furthermore, he uses examples from the Bible and from early American history to support his

In Letter from Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is writing a letter in response to eight white Southern religious leaders. King begins by giving his reasoning for addressing them. He mentions that he usually doesn’t address the criticism he receives. He says, “But since I feel you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” (King 1) To me, it seems as if Dr. King had a bit of a sarcastic tone, and this is what intrigued me to read this letter.

is able to separate and unify his audience. In his first paragraph he gives the audience a mental image of his secretaries unable to do work if they were to assist Mr. King in answering the letters. By describing the amount of criticism let's King show that he values his “fellow clergymen” and their opinions. Establishing his credibility makes him someone of value, and his depiction of his secretaries allows him to do just that. To unify his audience back together at the end of the introduction by using an analogy to connect us all into an “inescapable network of mutuality, tied in single garment of destiny.” In similar fashion to the first section, the final section King uses the description of police brutality of the hitting of young boys to contrast his own views of right and wrong compared to the clergy members. He uses this section to expose the harsh truth of the supposed order kept by police. As mentioned previously, he then unifies his audience by describing the future without the “dark clouds of racial prejudice,” “deep fog of misunderstanding...[in] fear drenched communities,” but replaced with “radiant stars of love and brotherhood [shining] over our great nation.” His constant separating and unifying of his audience allows King to put the concept at hand into light, and causes people to question their own morals based on socially accepted ideals. In establishing his own credibility and using imagery to separate

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

Throughout the text King both clearly and subtly justifies the reliability of his explanation through the positions he has held in society, his knowledge of both current and past events, and his control over his writing. At the beginning of the letter, King informs the audience of his standing as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This not only connects him with the audience, who are also Christians, but also places King in a position of authority with whom society generally views as trustworthy and honest. However, to keep the audience open-minded, King addresses his readers as “My Dear Fellow Clergymen”, which places King at the same status and shows that King sees the clergymen as equals to himself.

A multitude of his words possessed an ethical essence and he turned these words into one of his greatest weapons to persuade the clergymen. “Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber” (King 4). This may have been one of the more direct quotes that stuck in the minds of many, perhaps even the clergymen. King demonstrated how there was a problem in society; the blacks were being wrongly accused and punished for crimes that were made against them. To any human, this would have made sense. Connecting on a higher lever, in a rhetorical analysis, “Rhetorical Distance in ‘Letter From Birmingham Jail’”, the author, Michael Osborn, conveyed a quote by King saying, “It will triumph because of its vital identification both with America and with the will of god” (29). This quote established an ethical conclusion made by King; he stated that his efforts would succeed because they agreed with the identification of America and the will of God. King made the assertion here that his cause aligned with what would be best for his country, and he also ethically tied his cause to God. “One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty” (King 3). Here, King stated that everyone had a moral obligation to rebel against an unjust law, but everyone also needed to rebel peacefully and take on the punishment to come. By connecting these ideas together, King had a greater chance of pulling his audience in, especially since his audience were men and women of Christianity. Not only did King connect to his audience on a moral level, but he also connected with them on an emotional

Through metaphors and personal anecdotes, King utilizes pathos to support his claim. For instance, King exclaims:

King combines the use of ethos and pathos as he compares himself and the rights of men to religious backgrounds. His first comparison is with the Apostle Paul, where Paul had “carried the gospel of Jesus Christ,” as to Kings carrying of “the gospel of freedom.” King addresses this similarity to show why he felt committed to go to Birmingham, because like Paul, he needed to respond as an aid to his people. Towards the end of Kings letter; he exemplifies courageousness in the Negro demonstrations by relating them to the actions of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they refused to follow what they believed to be unjust laws. Saying that if they are supposed heroes by going against unjust laws, why shouldn't the people see Negro demonstrators the same way? They are also God's children and by those disobedience’s, they were really showing the grace of God. These connections to religion supports their fighting against unjust laws as a divine cause.

Throughout the speech, King references biblical and historical figures, thereby cultivating an ethically sound and reliable argument for his audience. Ethos is defined as an appeal to a listener’s morals, utilizing important characteristics to sway their opinions. To relate his central argument to his Christian audience, He includes allusion, a rhetorical device use for indirect or direct inference of an idea, person or historical event. The Bible is briefly used to ground King’s ethical appeals, creating a sense of undeniable truth. Although King does not dwell on the bible, he uses it discreetly and unintentionally, representing his underlying moral justifications.

First, to better understand King’s response to the clergymen; it is best to address their arguments in why