...Rhetorical Analysis of "Letter from Birmingham Jail" “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. He was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. During the civil rights protests, he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama because for protesting without a permit. Some realized arresting Dr. King is the best idea. However, Dr. King did not let jail block his...
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...Rhetorical Analysis: “Letter from Birmingham Jail” On April 12, 1963 eight clergymen wrote a letter to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that showed their disapproval of the demonstrations that were going on in Birmingham, Alabama. The clergymen were complaining that the demonstrations led by Dr. King and his affiliates went against Birmingham Laws and “incited hatred and violence.” A few days later Dr. King wrote a response letter while temporarily confined in a Birmingham jail. The letter demonstrated the intellectual power that Dr. King had of rhetorically appealing to his audiences. He effectively used the ethos, pathos, and logos appeals to explain the reasons why the demonstrations were necessary in order to make a change in Birmingham. Dr. King establishes his credibility, or uses the ethos appeal, effectively when he writes that “I have the honor of serving President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We have eighty-five affiliated organizations…” He listed these organizations so he can gain trust from the clergymen and also to make his argument stronger. He named his supreme position because this means that somebody or a group of people most likely appointed him to the position. This shows that somebody had to trust him to be responsibility for such a large organization. Dr. King also used allusions to appeal to his audience with more authority, or ethos. He establishes more credibility when he alluded to the Apostle Paul by writing “…just as the Apostle...
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...Rhetorical Analysis of The Letter from Birmingham Jail Influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement and active agitator for justice, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. in his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, argues passionately that injustice anywhere automatically creates the timely situation for organized retaliation in seeking freedom for the oppressed. King was arrested and placed in Birmingham Jail after a peaceful protest in downtown Birmingham. King was “the foremost civil rights leader in America in the 1950s and 1960s” (Kirszner and Mandell 799). “An ordained minister who held a doctorate in theology, King was the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” (799). “King and his followers met opposition not only from white moderates but also from some African-American clergymen who thought King was a troublemaker.” King’s opposition labeled his demonstrations and acts against segregation as “untimely”, “unwise”, and...
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...Martin Luther King, Jr., in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail, responds forcefully yet politely to a public statement made by eight Alabama clergymen in 1963. He defends his position as an African American and strongly advocates racial equality, citing countless sources and employing several literary devices. Most significantly, King uses frequent allusions and vivid metaphors, to relate to his audience and convey his passion for equality. Martin Luther King Jr. uses allusions to biblical figures and events that appeal to both ethos and pathos throughout the “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The ethos and pathos of biblical figures and events have a strong impact and effectiveness to the readers. Since King is a Christian he uses biblical...
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...MLK Letter From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis- w/ focus on Ethos “...we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders…” In this quote, from the third paragraph of the letter written by eight Alabama clergymen, the term outsiders is used. Early on, this creates a label for Martin Luther King, outsider. Throughout his Letter From Birmingham Jail, King is able appeal to ethos in order to refute his title of “outsider” and generate a connection with his audiences, the clergymen and the people of America. King is able to do such a thing by alluding to multiple passages from the Bible as well as the figures it contains, which is done so that he may identify with the clergymen. When not speaking in reference to the Bible, King makes allusions and references to specific points and people in American history, which allows him to connect to his larger audience, the people of America. By demonstrating his practical wisdom, through the use of allusion, King attempts to strengthen his character with a visible appeal to ethos. King alludes to the Bible multiple times throughout his Letter From Birmingham Jail. These allusions are notable in paragraph three, where king refers to the biblical figures “Jesus Christ” and “the Apostle Paul.” The context in which these two are used is to reiterate the story of Paul leaving Tarsus, which King also mentions, to spread the word of Christ. In paragraph...
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...Martin Luther King Jr. was a powerful civil rights leader and set the tone for many nonviolent equality movements. Events in Birmingham, Alabama, thoroughly the most segregated city in the United States, lead to nonviolent demonstrations, which then gave rise to hostile police conduct. The individuals of the protests were apprehended, including Martin Luther King Jr.. Alabama clergymen then composed a letter addressing the racial unrest in Birmingham, and Martin Luther King Jr. reciprocated with his own letter justifying the protestors actions. To justify the Birmingham demonstrations and appeal to his audience of both blacks and whites, Martin Luther King Jr. effectively builds pathos with the use of various rhetorical strategies. King evokes...
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...From 1963 to modern day, 2015, Martin Luther King serves as a monumental figure of justice, as he fought for the equality of men that defines our society today. His courageous actions sent him willingly to jail yet did not stop his ambition for equality. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King uses rhetorical devices of ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade the Clergymen and the American public that the severity of unjust treatment of blacks has reached its breaking point, and justice must come now. As King write his piece from prison, he must establish himself credibility, proving himself worthy of the clergymen’s time and ears. Throughout the piece, King uses ethos to give himself credit on the topic of racial injustice. He begins...
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...From 1963 to modern day, 2015, Martin Luther King serves as a monumental figure of justice, as he fought for the equality of men that defines our society today. His courageous actions sent him willingly to jail yet did not stop his ambition for equality. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King uses rhetorical devices of ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade the Clergymen and the American public that the severity of unjust treatment of blacks has reached its breaking point, and justice must come now. As King writes his piece from prison, he must establish himself credibility, proving himself worthy of the clergymen’s time and ears. Throughout the piece, King uses ethos to give himself credit on the topic of racial injustice. He begins...
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...and trustworthiness in support of their arguments. It is critical for a writer to establish their credibility in order to effectively relate their motives to their reader. In 1963, Martin Luther King composed a letter voicing his concerns about the racial injustice occurring in the South. His intentions for writing were clearly stated through his ability to establish himself as a legitimate authority in the eyes of his audience, justify his cause, and argue the necessity of immediate action. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s use of the rhetorical appeal of ethos provides him with sufficient credibility on the subject of racial discrimination, thus supplying himself with the ability to effectively convey his motives for civil disobedience to the clergymen of the South. King demonstrates his appeal to ethos throughout the course of his argument by considering himself as an equal individual to his audience. At the start of his letter,...
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...In Martin Luther King Jr's popular Letter from Birmingham Jail, he uses tactics to persuade and inform all readers of what is wrong with the world from the view point of a denomination that is unfortunately, under appreciated. His letter is formally toward eight while religious leaders of the South, and his action of going to jail was where he had a peaceful protest but without a permit. He first opens up explaining his career of being a successful business man and sharing common work actions with the religious leaders. With this, King used ethos, showing his credibility that he can relate to the readers of his letter, in a respectable way. King (1963) stated "when you take a cross-country drive and find I necessary to sleep night after night...
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...Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a knowledgeable speaker, letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963) defends himself against the eight clergymen in which he explains his motive towards civil rights and tries to justify the needs for nonviolent actions. Dr. King’s primary focus was to answer the criticism of the church leaders. His secondary audience was the white moderate and the religious population. Dr King’s letter addresses that the white attitudes towards African Americans were hostile as they were unable to accept the civil rights movement, especially in the South. Throughout the letter, he uses various literary and rhetorical devices to justify his actions and show why they should not be illegal. King creates an irritated tone in this letter, to proclaim his annoyance to the clergymen who were criticizing him. He feels he...
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...After reading Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter From Birmingham Jail we can agree that it’s a great example of the variety of rhetorical devices that he uses that makes his latter so amazing, breathtaking and powerful. The audience for the letter was mainly for the White Birmingham Clergymen, the letter as a response to the claims they had made, and was also targeted towards others who were part of the racial segregation campaign and for those supporting King and other racial civil rights activists. So the letter was made for everyone, which is a pretty big audience, King just wanted people know what he was truly feeling during his time in his jail cell. The King's only purpose in writing the Letter From Birmingham Jail was to explain the terrible...
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...Tennessee during one of his many protests to end segregation. As King writes the letter, he appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos numerously by using techniques such as parallelism, repetition, rhetorical questions, metaphors, similes, and allusions to construct a strong effective argument. “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written in 1963 from King’s jail cell in Alabama to clarify his reasoning for refusing to obey the laws of his time by constructing and leading nonviolent protests. Within the first paragraphs of his letter to the eight white clergymen, King first uses the appeal to ethos strongly to captivate the minds and attention of his audience. In paragraph two of “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” beginning on page 800, King appeals to ethos to ensure credibility and...
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...Nick Genaris Professor Ngoh Protest Literature 21th October 2015 Letter from Birmingham Jail-Rhetorical Analysis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in order to address the biggest issue in Birmingham and the United States at the time (racism) and to also address the critics he received from the clergymen. The letter discusses the great injustices happening toward the Black community in Birmingham and although it is primarily aimed at the clergymen King writes the letter for all to read. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos, alliteration/repetition, and ethos to back up his belief that nonviolent protesting and disobedience is the most effective means to protest anything that needs to be changed, in this case segregation. After reading King’s letter I, and almost anyone, would come to the conclusion that King is deeply motivated to help against any injustice in the US. Who else would go to such lengths if they didn’t? He knows how persuasive he can be by using his knowledge of the English language, and he uses this to speak out against people who doubt him (clergymen) and to incite a different way of thinking into the people in hopes of change. Dr. King’s letter is extremely effective because it provides an enormous amount of evidence to the reader that he and his company are being treated unjustly and also that King truly cares about making a change for the good of the city. It also re-directs attention...
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...Letter From Birmingham Jail Vs. “I Have a Dream Speech” The first way that a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “ I have a Dream” differ are in their intended audience, as one is intended for a group of white clergymen while the other is intended to rally a large group. This difference in audience and how Dr. King chooses to appeal to each of his audiences causes for the choices in language and the purpose of “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “I have a Dream” to differ. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is addressed to white clergymen, and the purpose of the letter is to defend the demonstrations that were taking place. As Dr. King is trying to defend the demonstrations to these white clergymen, his language choice is quite interesting. One brilliant way that he chooses to defend the demonstrations is by appealing to the white men through his choice of Anglo terms. For instance, in the letter, Dr. King writes, “Just as the prophets of the eighth century century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saint the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns…I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town” (King). This choice of wording makes Dr. King’s argument stronger since as these white men disagree with Dr. King and his form of peaceful protest, the white clergymen will not be able to argue back because he is using religious references that if the white men chose to argue against, it would make them look like hypocrites (Eubank). While...
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