Rhetorical Analysis Of Dr. King's Letter To Birmingham

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.

Possibly the three most important components a writer must understand are audience, genre, and rhetorical situation. When reading critically we become acquainted with these concepts therefore become better writers ourselves. While learning about rhetorical writing and composition we have analyzed Billy Collins “ Commencement Address at Choate- Rosemary Hall” , Martin Luther King Jr’s “letter from Birmingham Jail” and Lloyd Bitzer’s essay on “Rhetorical Situation”. In this paper I will analyze and make connections between the concepts of audience, genre and rhetorical situation in connection to the fore-mentioned readings. In doing so I will focus on how each used these concepts as means to communicate their main ideas and purpose.

Gray and empty, the sounds of the inmates echo throughout the prison block. Controlled under superior authority, many stories are kept within the four wall cell. The Civil Rights Movement is at a peak in 1963. While prisoner in Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr., an important historical figure,constructs “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” to the eight clergymen, who wrote an open letter criticizing his actions and involvement in Birmingham, Alabama dealing with the segregation and racism going on. A Christian minister and an intelligent individual with a Doctorate in Philosophy, King powerfully and constructively writes to the clergymen. Sitting in a confined, uncomfortable prison cell, he addresses the criticisms. King utilizes techniques of diction, syntactical devices, and rhetorical devices for strategy to respond to the clergymen.

In, “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, King writes about the criticisms placed on him by the Clergy and to all the white Americans who believe they are superior and do not wrong. For example when King writes, “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (King 3), King is speaking to the clergy who dislike his motives and actions. King is stating his innocence and that he is doing nothing wrong and that action needs to be taken in order to initiate a change. The purpose of King’s letter is not all to inspire a change in America and just address the criticism towards him and his actions but it is also a call to action. King takes on the time of a courageous, righteous, and disciplined man who

As a well respected preacher and advocate for nonviolence, Dr. King focused on freedom signifying being seen as an equal, but he was patient and forgiving in achieving this, which ultimately hurt his cause as he continually faced the same challenges after seeing no results followed by no change in his course of action. The overall tone of his letter from the Birmingham Jail is apologetic as if he needs to explain his actions because their purpose is unclear and he is at fault. He relates and reasons with the clergymen whom he addressed his letter to, “I feel that you are men of genuine good will and your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I would like to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms”(p. 24). Within the first paragraph he has submitted to their

Luther writes in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” informs and states why he is in jail, and the purpose of what he is in the middle of. Martin Luther King jr addresses that when he enters the jail he is quickly criticized. He supports his claim by first answering the statements he was asked and starting with explaining what unjust and just laws was as he quotes, “An unjust law is a human, law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” (King 1064) Then it informs about the segregation laws and what he thinks is right in his opinion like repeating segregation statements that state and

In Dr. King’s, "Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King specifically writes to the Clergymen of Birmingham, AL. While taking into consideration those who might hear his acknowledgments of what’s going on, to justify and explain his intentions, while also trying to appeal to these audiences to make them see the harsh consequences of unfair and biased inequalities that consume the city of Birmingham Al., during this time. Dr. King specifically writes this letter to the priest who had insinuated that the situation of racial discrimination was controlled by those of the law and authority, which they felt was not to involve Dr. King and his followers.

Martin Luther Jr, an advocate of civil rights and pastor, was sent to jail after engaging in the Birmingham campaign. At the time, he served as the leader of the Christian Leadership Conference of the South, and was called upon to come to Birmingham and take part in a peaceful program. All the participants of the Alabama based Christian movement planned non-violent protests against racial discrimination in the city. Following the protests, all the participants were sent to jail. While in prison, eight clergymen of Alabama made a statement that blacks should stop supporting King and the other demonstrators.

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.

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.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this letter to defend the actions of his organization. The letter addresses the clergymen by replying to them in that letter , he also addresses the white moderates that sympathize with King but don’t do anything to stick up for the black community. While jailed for standing up for what he believed in and moral standing, King had time to address criticism and time to clarify the purpose of the movement. Marting Luther King Jr. addressed the attemps at negations and how the movement came to the point of taking action with protests and sit-ins. King experiences first hand brutality from officrs and the bias aplication of the law, he felt the desperate need for change and the anger amongst the blacks. Negations were attempted but the agreemnts of removing the negative signs display around business were ignored, governments only wanted to silence the problem and not try to solve it. Anger and frustrations built by the disconnected white church, privileged classes and criticisms with lack of understanding. King knew the anger would eventually lash out and rather use that energy by peacefully protesting before it turned into viokence. In this letter King presented his belief with logic, history, facts and why things must and will change.

In the “letter from Birmingham Jail”, by Martin Luther King Jr. he uses pathos and allusions the most, to convince the readers of the vale of civil disobedience. Martin Luther King Jr. states, “An unjust law is o law at all” (page 7). This is persuasive because it points out the major flaws in the Birmingham government. With these flaws identified it shows how a government that is “for the people” and for freedom is only about giving white’s power and superior dominance. This improves the authors feeling of the passage by making whites feel ashamed of what they have done to their country. The author also states, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal”… it was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany”

Race is not merely a group of people with same identity, origin and physical characters but it is an issue that involves emotions, opinions and rights. In America, people were and are recognized mainly on the basis of their skin color. This could be best witnessed in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He introduces his arguments against injustice. He provides the reason for being in Birmingham by saying that, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (__). His thesis awakes the desire to have equal rights for the blacks. Dr. King uses various rhetorical devises such as allusion, ethos, and pathos that appeals emotionally, socially, morally and makes the text relatable and important because his text responds

In his letter from the Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King makes a reply to the eight white religious leaders of the South. He describes situations in which Negroes, despite the mistreatment and injustice of whites and policemen, desperately strive to attain "American freedom." As he explains the brutality and reactions of Negroes he tries to use persuasion and rhetoric to back up his argumentation. He does this by listing persuasive ways including subjective, objective, and interpersonal claims.

Words are stronger than actions a phrase that showcased Martin Luther king's ability as a speaker. During february 1968, there was an issue in memphis concerning about companies treatment toward sanitation worker. Martin Luther King, Jr. who is a spokesperson for the civil rights movement, and a baptist minister flew to memphis to talk about the situation. The speech presented was ‘I have been to the mountaintop”, the speech effectively covered its purpose about the issue of injustice toward sanitation workers. In Martin Luther King,Jr's speech, he encourages participant in the Memphis worker strike to persist by advocating his knowledge through experiences, referring to God as an appeal and disclosing their strengths.