King’s Letter Considered a Classic Argument Essay

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.

Throughout his letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. uses a number of rhetorical strategies to craft a well-written letter. By doing this, his letter respectfully responds to the clergymen and delivers a powerful letter. In paragraphs 27-31 of the letter, he uses quite a few strategies to respond to the clergymen’s accusation that his nonviolent protest is “extreme.” King uses a number of allusions, different forms of repetition, and figurative language in this section to form an effective response.

In paragraphs 12-14 of “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King begins addressing the clergymen’s belief that the peaceful demonstrations conducted by him and his associates were untimely. King starts answering questions frequently heard by opposing or moderate forces, as well as essentially denouncing the resistance to desegregation. King then introduced the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed; concluding that the oppressor is not inclined to act on things that do not directly affect them. Therefore, providing a platform of his argument as to why blacks could no longer wait to be given their basic human rights. Action needed to take place because fair treatment was no longer a hope to be given, it had to be taken.

In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King demonstrates the need for extreme action by depicting Birmingham’s dire future if the Clergymen continue to simply wait for the city to change. He claims that without extreme action one of two possible scenarios will play out, either nothing will ever change in Birmingham and people will continue to suffer under injustice, or worse, the African American community in Birmingham will be forced to resort to violence in order to accomplish their goal of equality. In the quote “millions of Negroes will… seek solace and security in a black nationalist ideology - a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare,” Dr. King demonstrates the consequences of the clergymen condemning his protest by explaining that his protests are the only way for many of the African American people to work out their frustrations, and without them, the majority of the black populace in Birmingham has no way to release its

The purpose for Martin Luther king to write “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was to respond to white Alabama clergymen who before this had criticized his action saying they were “unwise and untimely.” These clergymen had published a criticism directed towards King’s organization and participation in his protest march against segregation in Birmingham. This letter is not intended to persuade these men towards supporting civil rights, but rather to demonstrate that there is an immediate need towards direct action, and also that they need to open their eyes and see the African American community’s suffering. King withal expounds the need for tension, though only through nonviolent means, a tension that will coerce society to confront the present convivial iniquity head on. King disapproves being called an outsider because of his belief that humanity is part an "inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny."

Persuasive writing is most effective when all three rhetorical appeals, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, come together to form an indisputable argument. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X are two of the most influential figures of the past few decades; similarly, their work is summarized as some of the most persuasive and controversial of all time. The audience of both of their pieces, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” include oppressed African Americans and the white oppressors themselves. Each man takes full advantage of the three rhetorical appeals to influence their audiences to support their radical theories about racial inequality in the 1960’s. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is the most effective because of its hopeful emotions, irrefutable facts and, of course, the respected author.

In his letter, King uses all three modes of persuasion- ethos, logos, and pathos. King addresses all of the clergymen's concerns methodically and answers them both with clear, indisputable facts and with emotional appeals to allow the reader a closer and honest view of a colored person's life in the South at the time. King uses ethos to establish his character, but also to reassure the reader of his intentions. In this letter King keeps his tone unemotional and informative allowing logic to prevail. Throughout his letter King is successful using metaphors and imagery to express ideas or emotions that would otherwise be difficult for the reader to grasp.

Presenting his evidence to not just the eight white clergymen who prompted this letter but also to the coloured and white masses of the time, Dr. King presents an ample variety of religious and historical facts in addition to pathos-ridden anecdotes of injustice at play to sway anyone from the emotionless devout to the atheist white moderate. After stating a certain block of writing’s sub-thesis, the reverend moves swiftly to present his evidence before tying all the different facts together into a lesson to be learned — the sub-thesis — from the information at hand. An example of this format he uses is at the point where he discusses the justifiability of following or disobeying a law. Using simple wording, the reverend states his position

In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. provided counterarguments before he launched into his main argument to the clergymen. King supplied his audience with rhetorical questions to suggest specific actions, used respected leaders and an emotional appeal to justify the desperate need for nonviolent direct action.

A Letter from Birmingham Jail was written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on scraps of paper in response to a public statement of his efforts being seen as extreme issued by eight clergymen, while incarcerated in Birmingham. In response to the statement King makes a claim of "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Kings claim of “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Is supported throughout the entirety of his letter through the use of rhetoric devices such as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

Martin Luther King Jr., is one of the most recognized, if not the greatest civil rights activist in this century. He has written papers and given speeches on the civil rights movement, but one piece stands out as one of his best writings. “Letter from Birmingham” was an intriguing letter written by King in jail in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. He was responding to a letter written by eight Alabama Clergyman that was published in a Birmingham Alabama newspaper in 1963 regarding the demonstrations that were occurring to stop segregation. The intended audience for this letter was of course the eight clergymen, but he also had a wider audience in mind because instead of

In the “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King demonstrates his mastery of the written word as he describes the plight of the civil rights movement and his actions to dismantle segregation. The letter was his persoanl response to his fellow clergymen’s criticisms regarding the current civil disobedience. White clergymen, strongly opposed to Dr. Kings position on nonviolent passive resistance. They issued a statement urging African Americans not to support the demonstrations. Dr. King’s letter is an extremely powerful and a persuasive piece of historic literature. The letter details lessons in intelligent, communitive writing that results in powerful written communication. Dr. King states his perspectives without apology and builds his case for his fellow clergymen to encompass his passion and enable them to see his roots of his perspective and philosophies. A great example of persuasive writing.

During a period of high racial tension and civil disorder, a hero emerged to lead the fight to equal right. That hero was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the writer of the iconic “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In the letter, Dr. King responds to concerns about his leading nonviolent protest to create civil disobedience and spark litigation for equality. However, this was not an easy task. While writing the letter in jail, Dr. King knew that not only did he have to just answer the concerns of the officials that questioned him, but he also had to use various appeals to establish credibility, show his reasoning, and raise an emotional response. While Dr. King already has a large amount of credibility, he cunningly convinces readers that he is an intelligent force to be reckoned with, using clear logic and emotional wording in order to form his argument and sway opposing viewpoints. An analysis of his essay will reveal the intelligence and ability of Dr. King as a writer and speaker.

The second and third paragraphs state the thesis and says that even though Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is not a resident of Birmingham, he was there for a specific reason and that reason happened to be because of the many injustices that the white community was facing the black community with. In the Letter

Many of these issues revolved around failure to grant many of the African Americans the opportunity to live in a free world, one that was free of any traces of racism. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther argues that there was so much that had raised an opportunity given to the administration in Birmingham to cat and avoid any traces of racial prejudice within the state. However, it seems that much of this was never taken seriously and that many of the racial signs remained in the state even after there had been promises to act. In this case, it would be concluded that the report to demonstration by the African American community during the time was as a result of institutionalized racism and injustice. Whereas negotiations had been made with regard to racism a promise “…to remove the humiliating racial signs from the stores” made, nothing was done (2). As such, it would be concluded that much of the struggle for racial freedom and justice had to change from board room discussions to demonstrations as part of the affirmative