” (King). King uses the letter to help the Clergymen understand why he was in Alabama and why it was necessary for him to protest while in Alabama. King uses ethos, pathos and logos influences to support the claim that his presence and actions were necessary to cause much needed and long awaited change, the most powerful statements in the speech are written to the appeal to the audience’s logical side. In the letter he tells explains to his audience, the Clergymen, that he doesn’t usually respond to criticism stating “Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas”. This sets a tone of significance for the letter and calls for attention to the matter.
Also mentioning that Birmingham is one of the worst cities to be so ugly and brutal to the colored people all through its history. In my thesis statement I have prepared a few questions: 1-Why does King establish his setting (the Birmingham Jail) and define his intended audience in the first paragraph? How does this information impact the reader and his subsequent words? He wants the audience to feel what he is going through during his jail time in the Birmingham jail. He also wants to show that his actions are non-violent and can have good results.
Another way that King evokes pathos in order to get his message across is in paragraph eleven on page two. Here, he shares with his audience what it feels like to be an African American during the 60's and have to constantly hear the word 'wait', always knowing that this wait usually means 'never'. He says, “I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say 'wait'. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even
In here, he wants to remind the clergy men that America which is supposed to be the land of liberty where everyone is equal as stated in the Constitution should be a symbol, a light house of civil right for other nations to follow, and yet it is being left behind by others. His reasoning is very logical and tight to the Constitution which is written by white people makes the clergy men unable to make any argument. In
Martin Luther wrote a letter in response to the Eight White Clergymen. Using ethos, pathos and logos, King tried to persuade the church to adhere to the problems African Americans are facing. He let them know that what they wrote in their letter was not the completely accurate. Most importantly he told them even if the church does not come to aid, African Americans will still overcome their struggle and gain their freedom. “But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future.” King kind of challenged the church; with or without them, African Americans will continue to strive.
In this quote he states, “Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries….I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town”, Dr. King references passages from the bible to validated his battle against injustice throughout the continental U.S. He is letting the clergymen know that wherever there is injustice he is going to be there The last rhetorical device used would be apophasis. “I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes.” This quote basically means that the clergymen will understand the injustice that is happening around them. He hopes that the clergymen will not ignore or overlook the injustice; that they will look at facts and base their judgment off the facts instead of what society says.
Truong Pham 35476118 Comparison Essay Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail vs. Barack Obama’s “ A more Perfect Union” In their letter and speech, both Martin Luther King and Barack Obama tried to primarily use ethical and emotional appeals to raise awareness about racism in America and to persuade their respective audience to join their quest to put an end to racism. However, while Barack Obama talked about racism in general, Martin Luther King focussed on segregation, or racism specifically on African-American. King was straightforward in his arguments, often time hitting the nail right on the head, while Obama was much too diplomatic in his speech due to the fact that he had to appeal to a large audience of all
Subject: The subject of this letter is to state the reason he is in Birmingham for trying to change segregation as social justice and his use of civil disobedience as an instrument of freedom. Occasion: Dr. King is writing this letter from inside Birmingham Jail for being accused of misuse of the law by performing in acts of civil disobedience to show his disappointment at the leadership of the clergy and laws that he and others of the black community deem as unjust. Audience: Although this letter was initially mailed to the eight white clergymen who publicly asked the black community to restrict their Birmingham demonstrations, King meant for his message to reach a much larger audience such as U.S. citizens. King used this letter as
King himself writes, “I am thankful, however, that some of our white brothers in the South have grasped the meaning of this social revolution and committed themselves to it. They are still too few in quantity, but they are big in quality. Some – such as Ralph McGill, Lillian Smith, Harry Golden, James McBride Dabbs, Ann Braden and Sarah Patton Boyle – have written about our struggle in eloquent and prophetic terms” (King12) King argues that even though the majority of the white people treat black people as an inferior race, there are some white individuals that have noted such immoral treatment and have joined black campaigns against segregation. The reader sees how even white people have joined the black people's nonviolent campaigns to fight for their rights, even though they are brutally abused by the white authorities and called 'dirty nigger lovers' (King12). King's actions were criticized and described as inappropriate, and seen as the product of an extremist by eight clergymen from Alabama.
(Ellison 280-81) This presents a perfect example of letting the African-American's fight off each other. The white-American's use racial dialogue to their advantage towards the African-American's to drive them against one another. At the same time, repetition prevails, and the narrator is reminded yet again of his speech, providing its actual importance. The narrator gives his speech, and is recognized for his achievements and rewarded with a briefcase for the future and scholarship to the state college for Negroes. This seems to be another attempt to keep the African-American's against each other, sending him where only their race is allowed, or intended to attend.