Throughout his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. argues for equal civil rights and the methods he and his followers use to achieve such a simple human right. He mainly utilizes logos to build his argument to the clergymen to whom he is responding. However, in paragraphs thirteen and fourteen, he takes on a completely different approach. Paragraph fourteen, which is comprised mostly of one long sentence, attacks the reader’s emotions through appeals to pathos. Paragraph thirteen opens the following emotional buildup.
He begins by establishing rapport between himself and his audience by stating that he receives many criticisms and that he has personally decided to respond to this one because he believes the clergymen are “of genuine good will” and that their criticisms “are sincerely set forth.” The argument that the clergymen have used against King is that “outsiders [should not be] coming in” to Birmingham. King first starts to respond to this criticism by appealing to his ethos, stating that he has “the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.” He uses the authority that he has as the president of the SCLC to claim that he has a right to be in Birmingham “because [he] was invited [to Birmingham]” and that he has “organizational ties [in Birmingham].” He then proceeds to appeal to pathos when he compares himself to the Apostle Paul as a peacemaking, “gospel of freedom” teaching prophet who has come to Birmingham “because injustice is here” and he is answering “the Macedonian call for aid.” This appeal to religion is used because his audience is a
But to analyze the whole paper, in some cases I think Dr. King didn’t go far enough about his theses. In the letter he disapproved the statement of white clergymen with an almost appeasing tone. Dr. King noted that he was addressing them in part because the criticism of clergymen was sincere and added that they were men of real good will. However, in the paragraphs that follow, King changes to a language that can depart no doubt about the firm commitment that he introduced to the battle against racial injustice. For this transition Dr. King made a fuzzy statement to persuade them with the ideas of the justice and equality.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an example of a rhetorical text that is centered on ethos. King Jr.’s letter is a response to “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen,” which was written about the civil rights protests that King Jr. had led in Birmingham, Alabama, causing him to be in jail. In his letter, King Jr. addresses the concerns that the clergymen had about his motives and intentions in Birmingham. A rhetorical analysis of “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” shows that through his use of effective logic, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a way of re-creating the ethos that was taken away from him in “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen”. Specifically, the arguments that King Jr. uses to defend his untimeliness, his willingness to break laws, and his extreme actions are appropriate for the audience and help him build credibility, which ideally will move his audience to action.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was imprisoned for breaking a court ruling while leading a nonviolent direct-action protest program against segregation. While imprisoned, King wrote an open response; “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. This letter was addressed to his fellow clergymen, but he wanted the entire world to read it. King elaborately explains; why he was in Birmingham, why he believed change must take place immediately, and what he planned to do to help bring about this change. In his prodigious letter, King creates a vigorous yet respectful response to a criticism made by eight Clergymen from Birmingham, Alabama.
Letter From a Birmingham Jail Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote an open letter to his fellow clergymen in April, 1963 after bring arrested for protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. His letter was in response to statements the clergymen had made condemning and criticizing King for his “unwise and untimely”protests (King 1). In “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King used the methods of ethos, pathos, and logos not only to justify the actions that led to his arrest, but also to admonish those who sympathized with his plight, yet did little to change the inequality that existed. King recognized that before he could persuade his audience to understand his point of view, he needed to gain their trust. His ethical appeal, or ethos, is evident when he writes: “I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth” (1).
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter “A Letter from Birmingham,” was a good example of a counter argument from “A Call to Unity” by eight white clergymen. His inspiration for writing the letter came from clergymen’s unjust proposals affecting African-Americans. Dr. King effectively created his argument by using logos, pathos and ethos. What also helped his case were his personal experiences. He lived during the time where segregation was everywhere in the United States, not as a white man, but as an African-American.
Rhetorical Analysis: Martin Luther King Jr an educated christan who left the crowd astonished after his speech. His goal was to abolish slavery and have whites and blacks in the same place with no hostility, to live in peace for as long as people are on this earth. His dream took flight after that astonishing speech. He encouraged blacks to protest but without violence. That day marked a note in the history books and is now taught today.
Victoria Lopez English 1101 December 10, 2012 Rhetorical Analysis Martin Luther King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”, published in 1964 in his own book Why We Can’t Wait, addresses and explains his current situation to the clergymen of Alabama. On April 12, 1963 Dr. King was arrested in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama for contempt of court and parading without a permit during a protest. His purpose of the letter is to inform the clergymen of his views and the reasons for his “direct action” on the issue of desegregation. Martin Luther King Jr. was the most important voice of the American civil rights movement, which worked for equal rights for all. He was famous for using nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice, and he never got tired of trying to end segregation laws.
MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” In August of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned for refusing to wait for racial justice in Birmingham, Alabama. While King was in the Birmingham jail, a public statement was issued by eight white religious leaders of the south. This statement was a letter named “A Call for Unity”. In this letter, the clergymen urged activists to engage in local negotiations and use the courts if rights were being denied rather than protest. King knew that sometimes waiting makes things worse and by taking these inequality issues to the court, they would just have to wait even longer.