Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

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.

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.

During the time of the Letter from Birmingham Jail, the Civil Rights Movement was taking place. Many people protested for equality amongst people of all color. These people faced injustice, inequality, and police brutality. In Gandhi’s quote, I feel it relates to the people who went through these hardships. Throughout the Letter From Birmingham Jail, written by Martin Luther King Jr. he uses numerous amounts rhetorical devices like imagery and allusion to build his argument towards the intended audience.

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.

Gray and empty, the sounds of the inmates echo throughout the prison block. Controlled under superior authority, many stories are kept within the four wall cell. The Civil Rights Movement is at a peak in 1963. While prisoner in Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr., an important historical figure,constructs “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” to the eight clergymen, who wrote an open letter criticizing his actions and involvement in Birmingham, Alabama dealing with the segregation and racism going on. A Christian minister and an intelligent individual with a Doctorate in Philosophy, King powerfully and constructively writes to the clergymen. Sitting in a confined, uncomfortable prison cell, he addresses the criticisms. King utilizes techniques of diction, syntactical devices, and rhetorical devices for strategy to respond to the clergymen.

In response to the clergymen’s letter stating that his action is “unwise and untimely”, Martin Luther King, Jr. step by step refutes the assumptions made by the clergymen. He makes effective use of storytelling, pre-counter and qualification of arguments, and appeals to logic, emotions and credence through morality.

Persuasive writing is most effective when all three rhetorical appeals, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, come together to form an indisputable argument. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X are two of the most influential figures of the past few decades; similarly, their work is summarized as some of the most persuasive and controversial of all time. The audience of both of their pieces, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” include oppressed African Americans and the white oppressors themselves. Each man takes full advantage of the three rhetorical appeals to influence their audiences to support their radical theories about racial inequality in the 1960’s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is the most effective because of its hopeful emotions, irrefutable facts and, of course, the respected author.

Obviously, again my primary motivation for writing my Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is that this is a requirement for my English Composition Class. My heartfelt motivation for writing my Rhetorical Analysis is the respect I have for Martin Luther King’s intelligence and commitment that he displayed for the equality of the African American population. In analyzing “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, I developed an even stronger understanding of the dedication Mr. King had for the disadvantaged poor black population and the injustice that victimized them on a daily basis.

Martin Luther King started his letter right off placing himself on an equal playing field as the white clergy that was criticizing him when he wrote his salutation “My dear Fellow Clergymen” (King, 2017, p. 1). From those beginning words it is evident that Mr. King was using Rhetorical appeal of ethos, pathos and logos to establish ethical

“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., is a letter in which King is writing to his “fellow clergymen” in a response to their recent criticism of the actions he was leading in Birmingham at the time. The letter was written in April of 1963, a time when segregation was essentially at a peak in the south. Birmingham, in particular, is described by King as “probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King 7). King goes on to inform the clergymen of the reality of the situation where he is and how waiting isn’t an option anymore. In the letter, King uses a variety of rhetorical

Ethos, ethical appeal and credibility as a writer, is portrayed in every word in this letter. King’s language is more than appropriate to the audience and subject, and his

King begs for a civil and peaceful resolution to the unjust laws and unfair treatment of African Americans. But, as history shows, the clergymen were not going to have anything to do with that. King says that he is trying to do this in the best way possible but it will not seem that way, “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law… One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”(par. 12)

Used as an appeal to emotion, logic and a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader by reason, Martin Luther King clearly used ETHOS throughout his article in a series of multiple ways. With this in mind, after many readings of King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, I was able to identify countless examples of ETHOS. Quoted, “ I hope will be considered, patient and reasonable terms” (para1), King was wanting to express his feelings towards others, as well as, the use of appropriate language by using words such as patient and reasonable. By using these terms, these two words shows a professionalism that

Ethos is a way of referring to aspects that the writer has authority in and experience hence uses them to convince the reader or listener. It also comes out as the guiding beliefs and characters that characterize a community or group of people. King refers to the intended readers as 'fellow clergymen' since he was one of them and used that platform. He also quotes other authorities like "I would agree with St. Augustine that an unjust law is no law at all'". In his use of ethos, also borrows from personal experience for instance "we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public school". In so using these ethos, he commands authority in the subject matter he is talking about and also attracts attention of the