Rhetorical Devices In Letter From Birmingham Jail

The year is 1963, the date April 16th. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is sitting in his cell in Birmingham, Alabama writing what we know today as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In this 12 page letter, found in Writing Arguments a Rhetoric with Readings by John Ramage, John Bean, and June Johnson, Dr. King describes his outrage and disappointment with society and finally his want for society to recognize racial prejudice. In his letter, he uses Pathos, or emotional appeal, ethos, appeal to authority/reputation, and logos, appeal to logic, to help with his argument. Dr. King uses a lot of emotional appeal and diction when writing his argument so that he could appeal to his intended audience as best he could.

The rhetorical appeals he uses are the appeal to authority, logic, and emotion. He appeals to authority by citing his education and to make himself appear qualified and credible while presenting his argument. He also cites philosophers and theologians during his letter. Next, he appeals to the logic of the clergymen by using laws, rights, and justice. Lastly, King appeals to the emotions of the clergymen by using experiences and observations of segregation.

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 kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity ; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expresses pathos in his letter by convincing his audience to believe the argument of segregation. He shows credibility through appealing to his audience by having them understand him as a religious figure. Martin Luther King Jr. expresses why the dangers of segregation should be put to an end for the eight white

Dr. King uses the pathos mode of persuasion by using metaphor, anaphora, and parallelism. He uses metaphor at several places in the letter to make comparison between two things that are unrelated but share common characteristics. He writes, “I guess it is easy for

King uses strong rhetoric efforts and appeals to his primary audience with tone, knowledge, and religion. Dr. King’s tone in this letter varies but it was all done with a specific purpose- to move his audience.

With the people of The United States of America categorized as the audience, King speaks to people of all races and ethnicity. This discriminated audience included the grasping appeals to the ethos, pathos, and logos. As each appeal is fully informed of the rhetorical purpose, King finds a way to encourage all three. Through several metaphors and types of imagery, he makes the decision to speak to all of the appeals in order to accomplish to need for change. Clearly aimed directly at the hearts of blacks and making the whites feel ashamed of their actions brought together a turn in society as they knew it. This specific structure geared towards the audience was the main reason why King impacted Americans across the country and not just at the march. These different appeals mixed within the audience to help King influence his purpose of racial equality as each type of person could relate to his moving words.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. motivation to write “Letter From Birmingham Jail” was to address the injustice he received during his time of his incarceration. King felt distraught and deeply offended by the treatment of the clergymen. He decided that it was useful to put his emotions on paper to express how to best explain his unlawful situation. King wrote this letter with disapproval, sorrow, and disappointment to convey his principles were wrongly tried. He used this letter to justify his reasoning for nonviolent acts of defiance against segregation. Dr. King structured his counterargument for the clergymen after listening to his view, then used ethos, logos, and pathos to make an appeal to his readers his perspective about the unfair treatment of African Americans.

During the 1960’s, racism was still a prominent problem in America. The Civil Rights Movement was under way. African Americans were fighting for their basic human rights. One of the most notable figures of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr. He fought for African American’s rights using nonviolent resistance; however, during a protest in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. King was thrown into jail. While in his jail cell, Dr. King wrote a letter to clergymen from the Birmingham jail claiming his stance on peaceful confrontation on defending African American’s human rights. In his letter, Dr. King uses rhetorical devices to strengthen his argument in his letter to the clergymen. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. makes appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos to convince the clergymen that colored people have been waiting for too long for political, economic, and social justice and freedom. He argues that it’s unfair to promise someone, or a group, for a change and not fulfill that promise. Along with demonetizing and/or belittling a person to the point where they don’t feel as important or as worth as they should; making them feel hatred and anger towards the person(s) that inflicted the pain on them, and anger towards their ethnic/culture. Also, that he is needed and wanted in Birmingham. King appeals to ethos to establish credibility and biblical allusion. King uses logos to process his

In response to the clergymen’s letter stating that his action is “unwise and untimely”, Martin Luther King, Jr. step by step refutes the assumptions made by the clergymen. He makes effective use of storytelling, pre-counter and qualification of arguments, and appeals to logic, emotions and credence through morality.

From the beginning of his letter he twists and turns the words of the clergymen to his liking. The clergymen

In response to the clergyman's claim that his use of direct action was "untimely," King states, "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights." As you can see, this statement is in direct relation to the clergyman's

At the beginning of Martin Luther King’s speech, he says, “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free, one hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination…” (Martin Luther King speech, 1963, para. 3). King keeps saying “one hundred years later”, to show that no matter how much time passes, African Americans will never be equal to the whites. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Logos is shown all throughout his “I have a dream” speech. He is letting the audience know that they have not been given equal opportunities, like the whites have been given.

Logos means reason. Martin Luther King Jr. uses logos to show why he is delivering this speech and why he wants things to change. He is delivering this speech to show how many blacks and other races, that weren’t being treated equally, really didn’t have freedom like they should. “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 6) “Instead of honoring the sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 5) These quotes are just a couple of the logos quotes Martin Luther King said in his speech.