“Letters from a Birmingham Jail” Analysis of the Rhetorical Appeals

The majority of the sentences in King’s letter can be connected to logos, pathos or ethos and his incorporation of appeals is masterful.

The rhetorical appeals he uses are the appeal to authority, logic, and emotion. He appeals to authority by citing his education and to make himself appear qualified and credible while presenting his argument. He also cites philosophers and theologians during his letter. Next, he appeals to the logic of the clergymen by using laws, rights, and justice. Lastly, King appeals to the emotions of the clergymen by using experiences and observations of segregation.

In arguing, writers use different techniques to effectively convey their message to their intended audience. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was a response to "A Call for Unity" by eight white clergymen in which King’s presence in Birmingham and his methods of public demonstration were questioned. King’s letter was not only a response to his presence in Birmingham, but he also used the opportunity to address the unjust proposals by the clergymen that Negroes wait for the legal system to abolish segregation and unjust laws. King uses rhetorical modes of persuasion such as ethos, pathos and logos to meticulously address and discredit the claims made by the

Introduction: Martin Luther King, employ rhetorical appeals to convince the Clergymen and Birmingham City about the brutal treatment the African Americans were facing during the Civil Rights Movement were unjust.

In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King used ethos, pathos, and logos. He did not use ethos as much as he used pathos and logos. These rhetorical strategies was used to persuade his listeners. Pathos and logos was the most effectively used rhetorical strategies used. In paragraphs twelve through fourteen is were he uses rhetorical strategies the most, which means these were the paragraphs he persuaded he listeners to end

King’s use of many rhetorical devices in these three paragraphs of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” solidify his conviction that segregation needs to be quelled immediately. Dr. King’s explanations justify the demonstrations and protests that he is participating in. Although this was a letter meant for clergymen, Dr. King simultaneously taught all of America a very important lesson: justice is a universal natural right, and when it is denied, it needs to be demanded. Racial equality is the form of justice in this case, as segregation was the culprit that divided society into two racial groups. Thus, Dr. King successfully advocated civil rights through this letter with powerful, clever

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail, he argues that segregation is inhumane and is hurting the American society as a whole. All the time and energy that goes into segregation is slowing down the American society’s progress to succeed as a nation. He uses several rhetoric strategies that help adopt a tone that is both personal and logical. King was able to incorporate the rhetoric triangle into his letter and still managed to address his arguments. While using pathos, ethos, and logos, Martin Luther King Jr. was able use the clergymen’s accusations to successfully promote his own views and opinions instead.

Martin Luther King Jr., the author of “Letter to Birmingham Jail,” that was written in 1963, uses many rhetorical strategies throughout his letter;. Additionallyconsequently, he uses these strategies to get his points across. For example,The rhetorical devices he employsuses are repetition, he uses ethos, and he uses rhetorical questions. During the time he gave his speech, was during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, segregation was happening, and racial discrimination between blacks and whites is commonplace.were not treated equally. King uses d rhetorical strategies in order to emphasize what he was most passionate about; he was his passionate about - equality and nonviolent protestings, for he was a black himself. He usesd his letter in order to bring about make a change. Therefore, he needed to really get the listeners’ attention.

Dr. King’s sarcasm made his point a whole lot more sensible. He controls the language, saying

What would writing be like without any rhetorical devices? Would author/narrators just write straight to the point? Would there be a hook? Would people still read as much as they do now? Rhetorical devices are used to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards the topic the author is trying to make. In Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK)‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, where he was imprisoned as a participant in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation, MLK wrote a letter in response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the south. In the letter, he used rhetorical devices to persuade the eight white religious men why the black community cannot wait for change to occur, as well as address any other concerns that were addressed in the public statement. Martin Luther King Jr used many rhetorical devices in this work. Some identified are flashback;to give a brief example from his own experience, ethos; to show the people this issue is not something that he experience from the outside but he too have gone through it himself, logos; by applying to the reader’s sense of reasoning, pathos; the audience emotionally side, exposition; to

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.

The use of strong words and imagery in the letter not only stir the emotion of the reader, but also appeal to their moral believes of right and wrong. King also uses pathos to make clergymen feel religion guilt for not helping people in need. King justifies the reason for not waiting and considering direct action because “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brother at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of affluent society” (3). King argues that black people have waiting for more than 340 years now it is very difficult to wait. The choice of words and examples King uses are very forceful to make readers fell the pain and emotions of the black people.

In both works, Dr. King Jr. adopted techniques of series rhetoric, repetitions, effective use of metaphors and similes in protesting against social injustice and assuring his audience of a hope for a better tomorrow. In the letter to the clergy Dr. King Jr. invoked their thinking of what a just and unjust law was. He explained that the just law is a moral act of God’s will and the unjust law is such act instituted by men. When in conflict, he admonished society to accept the laws of God over those of men and cited instances where society had an obligation to reject unjust laws of segregation. Dr. King Jr. draws inspiration from men of historical significance to ascertain his claim and quotes

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.

“Logical arguments consist of a set of premises or statements of evidence that lead to conclusions” (Kies, 1995). Dr King appeals to logic and reason