Martin Luther King Persuasive Speech Analysis

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Persuasive Writing Strategies Shackled down and thrown in a jail cell, being threatened and abused for something beyond your power, imprisoned for non-violent actions, when none of these things are, or even sound remotely humane but illustrate a day in the shoes of an inspirational man, Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. .The civil rights movement went on from 1955-1968. Martin Luther King was non-violently protesting with 53 other African Americans in1963 on Good Friday and were all jailed. This enticed Clergymen to write a letter, which appeared in the Birmingham newspaper against these acts of protest. Martin Luther King Jr. won people over with his inspirational words and ability to persuade even those extremely against…show more content…
Allusions convince and change the mind of men like the clergymen in this case. Using religious figures makes allusions that men of God would easily relate to. He makes a comparison to his actions to those of Socrates practicing civil disobedience in the quote, “To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience”(210). Another allusion is included about Adolf Hitler reign in Germany where “everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal”, ”to prove the point of what is “right and wrong” is in the eyes of the beholder (210). In most paragraphs he uses at least one allusion that the clergymen can compare his or their opinion to. For another example, “Just as the prophets did…’thus said the Lord’…just as Apostle Paul did…I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town” (204). Allusions are the best approach in this letter because he makes a lot of references to religious figures, which the clergymen can also show respect for and dare not go against what they have done or said. This also sets a tone of brotherhood between Martin Luther King and the clergymen because of them both being men of theology. But on the other hand using these figures to guilt…show more content…
The repetition of rhetorical questions in most people’s opinions would be considered an effective strategy. Repetition being another key weapon in Dr. King’s arsenal can drill certain ideas into the reader’s head, which is a good thing when persuading. Repetition for effect is used expertly when Dr. King repeats the phrase, “I have” to emphasize his multitude of experiences in the field of view like, “I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities” (215). Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail was taken well and was well respected not only by the clergymen, but by a multitude of people throughout history. This is because of the writing strategies he used that included flattery, display of credentials, allusions, use of metaphors, repetition for effect, guilt, and use of rhetorical questions, just to name a
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