Letter From Birmingham Jail Figurative Language

When someone questions your methods, it is because they do not see how your views are correct; in the case of King, he realized that his “Dear Fellow Clergymen” are questioning his credibility, and therefore is why they are questionings his methods of nonviolent resistance. What Dr. Diction does is introduce the rhetoric of allusions to allow his audience to make connections. King want the connections that his audience to make justifie his practices and beliefs in nonviolent resistance. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, the two main allusions King uses are biblical and historical. A purpose for King’s letter using biblical allusions is to create analogies between himself and biblical figures in the hope of defending his non-violent protest

In the letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 16, 1963, Dr. King is answering criticism from white clergy men. King stumbled upon a statement in a newspaper while in jail and felt the need to write on it. He did it to explain why he was in jail. After all Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a nonviolent protestor. Kings says “I am in Birmingham because in justice is here.” Dr. King wants to see a change. This paper will examine King’s uses of rhetorical devices to appeal to his audience. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” reveals all three rhetorical appeals. It appeals to ethos, logos and pathos.

Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is filled with figurative language to influence his readers and explain his ideas. In the line, “Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed,” King uses this amazing and interesting simile to catch his reader’s attention and help them understand what must be done. Also, King uses a beautiful metaphor when he speaking about

Dr. King was arrested in 1963 in the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans. “The Letter from Birmingham Jail”, written a few days after King’s arrest, defended Dr. King’s argument about the civil rights movement. He uses the pathos, ethos, and logos modes of persuasion and uses several rhetorical strategies such as metaphors, citing authority, parallelism, Rogerian strategy, and anaphora to defend his argument against racism and segregation.

“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.

King’s use of many rhetorical devices in these three paragraphs of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” solidify his conviction that segregation needs to be quelled immediately. Dr. King’s explanations justify the demonstrations and protests that he is participating in. Although this was a letter meant for clergymen, Dr. King simultaneously taught all of America a very important lesson: justice is a universal natural right, and when it is denied, it needs to be demanded. Racial equality is the form of justice in this case, as segregation was the culprit that divided society into two racial groups. Thus, Dr. King successfully advocated civil rights through this letter with powerful, clever

Martin Luther King Jr. intentionally uses instances of allusions in order to strengthen his overall argument. In MLK’s letter titled “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, he addresses the clergymen who have condemned his actions, and who labeled have him as an “extremist”. MLK addresses this by integrating a biblical allusion. For example, he states, “Was not Jesus an extremist in love? -- ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.’”. MLK references what the clergymen know best, the bible. This allows him to labels Jesus as an extremist since he had an extreme love for God and his creations. This essentially puts MLK in the same group as Jesus, removing the negative connotation of being an extremist. With

Injustice is a big problem in today’s society. Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he addressed many forms of injustices that was present then and continue to be present in today’s world. Martin Luther King did a lot of things that still effect today. He got in trouble for some things as well; such as like protesting how blacks were treated. He was arrested and was sent to Birmingham City Jail. He wrote a letter to defend the strategies of nonviolent resistance to racism. He employs the use of pathos, ethos, and logos to support his argument that nonviolence resistance is definitive. Based on the pathos, ethos, and logos present in this letter, the article is overall effective to this argument.

In King’s letter, paragraph fourteen is an essential paragraph that brings out the most affecting and sentimental emotions than any other paragraph throughout the entire letter. It is also in this paragraph where he has the longest sentence throughout his whole letter. King states his personal reason for the need of social change. He uses his words in such a way that it really affects the reader and creates a feeling of sorrow and melancholy. King explains that the white community puts off helping the black community because they do not feel the agonizing pain that poor innocent African American’s feel and they do not have to go through what the African Americans go through everyday by saying “I guess it’s easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “wait.””(Paragraph 14)

Obviously, again my primary motivation for writing my Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is that this is a requirement for my English Composition Class. My heartfelt motivation for writing my Rhetorical Analysis is the respect I have for Martin Luther King’s intelligence and commitment that he displayed for the equality of the African American population. In analyzing “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, I developed an even stronger understanding of the dedication Mr. King had for the disadvantaged poor black population and the injustice that victimized them on a daily basis.

Because Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s grandfather, father, and mother were reverends, religion was always a significant part of his life. King, as an activist for racial equality, continued to follow the lessons and advice of the bible. The bible has an evident impact on how King sees the world around him; "I say it as a minister of the gospel who loves the church, who was nurtured in its bosom, who has been sustained by its Spiritual blessings, and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen." After his arrest for leading an equality movement in Birmingham, eight white religious leaders criticized his actions and beliefs. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is his dignified response to their criticism. King condemns

In the writing “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. King basically criticizes the clergymen, who disapproved of King’s actions and protests. King’s tone is almost disgusted from the fact that the clergymen even dared to condescend his actions. King morally defends his protests using allusions, common grounds, and comparisons, implying how unaware the clergymen are of purposes of King’s protests.

The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written precisely on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. the letter was written to his co-ministers in reaction to their disapproval about his deeds in Birmingham. This letter was written when there was discrimination in the South. The forcefulness and communal prejudice have created unnecessary heartache and depression among black people, with the way things are going if there is no solution to the problems things might get out of hands. The writer stresses that if they stop the protest there will not be a chance for change, acceptability, and understandings of the blacks to get the right they deserve. In addition, it will be difficult to solve the socioeconomic and human problems rising among the blacks and the whites. In order to defend his wish for racial justice and equality, the writer uses an ethical appeal, logical appeal, and pathetic appeal to earn his audience approval.

In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was thrown into jail due to participating in non-violent protests against racism and segregation in the city of Birmingham. There, he wrote the famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” which became one of the most important letters in history of the American civil rights movement (Colaiaco 1). The open letter covered many points to King’s arguments for why the marches, protests, and other non-violent actions were necessary and justifiable. James Colaiaco analyzes the key components to the letter and the different ways Martin Luther King, Jr. used literary devices to form a well written argument.

Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, was arrested and placed in Birmingham jail after leading a non-violent march to protest racism in the streets of Alabama- a highly segregated state at the time. There he received a newspaper containing “A Call for Unity,” which was written by eight white Alabama clergymen criticizing King and his movement’s methods; this prompted King to write a letter in response to the critics. Martin Luther King Jr. employs ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade and demonstrate to the critics and other readers the many injustices of segregation.