preview

Examples Of Pathos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Good Essays
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” was once said by the African-American rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. He was arrested in the summer of 1961 for parading without a permit and wrote the infamous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to white clergymen about rights of blacks. Although Martin Luther King Jr.'s various applications of rhetorical appeals and devices added to the "Letter From Birmingham Jail,” pathos and ethos had the most advantage to enhance the letter because they allowed the audience to have an emotional connection to African-American lives and shows the education and trustworthiness of MLK.
Dr. King uses pathos heavily throughout the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as a way to provide an emotional experience through stories to his audience by using multiple loaded words. King explains to the clergymen that they have never seen “vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim.” By using this story, he allows the audience to imagine their parents and siblings go through such terror as they watch. He describes the mobs as “vicious” which usually has a negative connotation and can be associated with the word “attack”. It is then followed up with the word “mobs” and “lynch”. When the audience hears the word “mobs”, they will imagine a large group of individuals acting without thought. “Lynch” also has a negative connotation and can be
Get Access