... was arrested and put in a Birmingham jail for demonstrating/protesting without a permit. During this time, he wrote a letter to eight dissatisfied white clergymen on behalf of a public statement of concern. In this lengthy, strong-handed letter, Dr. King did not argue; he did not get angry, but rather, he provided views of brotherhood and peace within his rebuttal. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses a variety of rhetorical strategies in order to persuade and inform his audience of the benefits of equality. Dr. King was thrown in jail due to illegal protesting. During his time of being locked up, “[he] came across a recent statement calling their present activities ‘unwise and untimely”. (King 1) During the time that King was locked up, he had plenty of time to think and release his anger, but it wasn’t until later when he began to write a rebuttal of the recent criticisms made by the eight white clergymen. In the letter, King does not release any anger, nor does he argue with the clergymen’s response. In fact, he writes in a calm manner that sends a message of peace, as well as comfort. On the other hand though, he doesn’t simply ignore the fact of the utter ignorance of what was said. A main strategy that King uses is one that...
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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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...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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...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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...I find it ironic how Patrick Henry speaks about being slaves to the british and standing up for colonist’s beliefs in the late 1700’s. However Martin Luther King Jr. writes in his letter about being free from the same americans who have locked him up for his own beliefs. As skilled orators who have shaped America, Patrick Henry and Martin Luther King Jr. use similar and different rhetorical devices to convey the message they would like to get across. Patrick Henry and Martin Luther King both use rhetorical strategies like, repetition to make their words and the meaning behind them more effective, yet Patrick Henry seems to use more of an abundance of rhetorical questions to enforce his ideas than MLK. Henry and King have used rhetorical strategies...
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...September 2013 Rhetorical Analysis Rhetorical Analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” “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 strategies to accomplish the task of appealing to the readers from a logical standpoint. King first establishes his credibility to answer the clergymen by naming his personal title and comparing himself to such a higher historical authority as the apostle Paul. King uses repetition of his personal experiences in Birmingham to describe the situation from an emotional standpoint. By stating his credibility and giving his personal experiences, King gives the readers no choice but to listen to what his reasoning is behind his actions taken in Birmingham. He does so by describing how he has dealt with the situation in Birmingham appropriately using the four basic steps of any nonviolent campaign, and defining what those are. By coordinating the rhetorical strategies of quoting authorities...
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...Eng 101 Teresa Sweeney 6 November 2015 Letter from Birmingham Jail Throughout Martin Luther King Jr. life, he faced many hardships, one of the most known ones was facing the town of Birmingham. He went against the Clergymen to defend why he was allowed to speak in this town with a brilliant letter known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. This letter of importance was so greatly recognized and understood for its attention to literature. The argument was created by classical appeals, figurative language, and rhetorical strategies. King wrote this letter responding to the criticism demonstrated by eight prominent white clergymen. King first develops his letter using appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos to explain how he is allowed...
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...passionate about, which was civil disobedience, that is defined as a peaceful form of protest. Practicing civil disobedience addressing his demands for racial equality landed Martin Luther King, Jr. a spot in Birmingham Jail. The incarceration resulted in a large amount of free time which he used to complete a lengthy letter addressing the clergymen who criticized his actions, calling them untimely and unwise. These criticisms did not sit well with King and therefore, he formulated “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” Although long winded, Martin Luther King, Jr. uses repetition, in “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to his benefit, in addition with ethos and pathos to sway his audience and develop his reasons for his civil disobedience. Ending at an astounding eleven pages, Martin Luther King, Jr. covers a great amount of information throughout “Letter From Birmingham Jail”. The length of this letter most likely was due to the fact he was locked in a cell with nothing better to occupy himself with, King admitted himself, in the last page of the letter, “Never before have I written so long a letter” followed by, “...what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?” (11). King’s letter may have been shorter if he was not confined in a small, bland, lifeless, prison cell, however those were his circumstances and he made the...
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... Instructor: Professor Kirui Course: English literature Date: 15th May, 2004 Rhetoric strategy in Artistic Writing Pathos, logos, and ethos is clearly a tool and an instrument of writing that appeal to the seat of emotion, reason and ethnic. The strategy pays dividends to the extent that it calls to these three aspects of life to address issues. Scholars and majority writers in their scholarly and oratorical works have relied so much on the use of the rhetorical style of writing to construct pathos logos and ethos. “Letter from Birmingham Jail," by Martin Luther King Jr (Francisco, 23) is a profound example of this style at play. The three ideologies independently can survive any intellectual argument; they don’t have to work in tandem. This paper seeks to decipher the effect of using the rhetorical strategy to address racial injustice, and diverse religious ideology. Martin Luther employs the use of pathos and logos to create such a strong emotional appeal. To some extent, all human beings are caught in the inescapable network of mutuality. Martin Luther contends that whatever affects one person directly affect another indirectly. Martin Luther King Jr. in a sense achieves a deep sense of pathos by appealing to the logos. The emotional stylistic appeals clearly put the issues on steroids by drawing from particular aspects that cut across geographical location. The racial injustice is a threat to justice everywhere, including and...
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...Rhetorical Analysis Martin Luther King’s inspiration for writing his, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was mainly to appeal to an undeniable injustice that occurred during his time. His letter was in response tos eight white clergymen, who objected to King protesting in Birmingham. Dr. King effectively crafted his counterargument after analyzing the clergymen’s unjust proposals and then he was able to present his rebuttal. Dr. King effectively formed his counterargument by first directly addressing his audience, the clergymen and then using logos, pathos and egos to present his own perspective on his opponent’s statements. The majority of the sentences in King’s letter can be connected to logos, pathos or ethos and his incorporation of appeals is masterful. On more than one occasion, King uses various strategies to appeal to his audience, in the letter he writes, “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.” In this excerpt, King presents his ethos very tactically. The Alabama clergy presents him as an outsider in the letter, but demonstrating his ethos, King presents himself as an insider. He is not just a man who chose to protest in an outside community, but is in fact the president of the Conference. He...
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...imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama for leading the non-violent demonstration against racial segregation and injustice. As Kind read the letter written by the eight local Clergymen, he then wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in order to defend his action nonviolent actions. King uses many varieties of rhetoric strategies to exemplify his argument. He uses three Aristolean means of persuasion Ethos, Pathos, and Logos to establish his argument on the nonviolent protest movement. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter, written from the Birmingham Jail, he uses ethos to establish the credibility on the subject of racial discrimination and injustice. King states in the letter “I have the honor of serving as president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated...
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...Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King was born on 15 January, 1929. He was a firm advocate of peaceful actions as a means to attain change. He was the leader of peaceful protests against the segregation of Negro people in America. However, his peaceful protests failed to bring equality. On top of that, the city government of Birmingham passed a legal provision banning street marches without permission. The black...
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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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...While being detained in a Birmingham city jail, amid the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. penned, “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929, King would burgeon into a notable figure, who relentlessly pursued the eradication of ending racial inequalities that plagued the nation during the 1950s and 1960s. King single-handedly dismantled the cornerstone of injustice on which the country was built on, in not only to a response to eight of his fellow clergymen who chastised his rationale regarding protest, but to those of whom also deplored his methods. In a compiled 21 typed pages, that was initially composed on scraps of paper, King seamlessly wove together a riveting piece of literature that captured the essence of his cause for peace and brotherhood. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,”, written on April 16, 1963, King harnessed the compelling nature of rhetoric while...
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...Many people know Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his “I Have a Dream Speech”, or his involvement in fighting for racial equality for African- Americans, or simply that there is a day observed on behalf of him in January. This may be a few of his most popular achievements, but is not all that he is known for. Dr. King wrote, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” whilst jailed to explain to his fellow clergymen of “good will” the reason behind why he thought he was jailed and to further call out their hypocrisy dealing with prejudice regarding the African Americans. King uses a strong appeal to feelings or pathos in order for the audience to sympathize with the ridiculous morals of his fellow clergymen. He further develops his appeal through devices...
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