Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Dr. King’s letter, Letter from the Birmingham Jail, talked about some things on why there shouldn’t be segregation. In his speech he used a rhetorical device such as when he made a Juxtaposition statement, “ Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This means that if you do something bad to one person, like telling a black person that she cannot sit here it is for whites only, will affect other black people even though the action was not towards them. This happened and affected every black person during the time of segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, there are lots of rhetorical strategies that he uses in response to the eight Alabama clergymen’s letter, A Call for Unity. The clergymen’s letter was criticising Dr. King’s civil rights demonstrations taking place in Alabama. The letter encouraged civil rights activists to negotiate instead of protesting and King’s letter responded arguing that it is necessary for them to take civil action and counters their claim by using ethos, asking rhetorical questions, and using numerous biblical and historical allusions.

Martin Luther King, Jr. writes from the Birmingham jail, where he is in prison for participating in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation, his response to a statement issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. King writes passionately about the sufferings caused by segregation and moves his argument along using tone. His letter can be broken down, based on tone, into five main sections. These five sections, when combined, make up one of the most irrefutable arguments of all time. By skillfully utilizing diction to create tone, King conveys his message to the United States that segregation is not just a law, it was now a way of life.

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

Martin Luther King, Jr. sat in Birmingham jail not because he committed a crime but because he took part in a non-violent demonstration. King received an invite to a nonviolent demonstration by a local church and was later jailed for his actions (King 1). While in jail, King reflected on the injustice in not only Birmingham, but the world as well. King addressed injustice as a universal wrong which can only be undone by people themselves and not by action forced by the government. He quickly announced that keeping the peace and obeying the law are not the same, the people ahead do not simply relinquish their role because of the selfishness of the human nature. Those who are oppressed will seek to leave injustice behind. Martin Luther

¨Wait...Just wait¨; For years the only thing negros heard when segregation laws were brought up is to just wait. Martin Luther King Jr. was one who was constantly told to wait, that things were changing, that people were doing everything they could to make changes, and that they didn’t need him meddling in their business. In response to all of these claims King wrote “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” In this letter King addresses many of the issues related to the pace at which segregation laws are changing and how he can no longer just sit by idly and watch. In the text King uses a number of different rhetorical strategies to get his points and ideas across. King uses pathos to appeal to his audiences emotion to get them to see things from the negro point of view, ethos that really build his credibility and get his audience to really listen to him, and logos to appeal to people's logic and compare what is happening with the progression of segregation laws in other countries compared to the United States. Although King is in the minority and has far less people on his side he deploys the use of all of these strategies so beautifully and with so much character that it is almost impossible to not side with him.

Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr in his persuasive letter, “letter from Birmingham jail” argues against segregation by using rhetorical devices. Martin Luther King Jr’s purpose is to express his struggles through segregation, he adopts an aggressive tone to get his point across to people in power.

Besides, I want to analyze the logos reflected in this letter, that is to say, from the perspective of theories and scientific facts. In the letter, “There are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification, and direct action. We have gone through all steps in Birmingham.” (King, 2013, pp.342). From this letter, it refers to the scientific facts to illustrate the steps of the campaign of the non-violence action to go against the injustice from time to time. Then this piece of information also provides us a type of logos, citations from experts and authorities as a matter of fact. Injustice appears in their daily lives in America, and they still take an extremely opposite opinion towards the injustice and non-violence action. The author said that he had gone through all those four steps in Birmingham. In other words, he has experienced some incidents of realizing the goal of freedom and non-violence to some degree. The author’s real experience also

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail that went on to become one of the most controversial and important pieces of work during the Civil Rights Movement. Like many other well written rhetorics, King alludes and uses Aristotle’s three main appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. How does King uses these appeals in his rhetoric? King effectively uses these appeals to evoke his audience’s emotion to feel remorseful for the extremity that African Americans went through and dealt with.

It takes great determination to achieve great goals.  Determination is like a freight train, it takes a great force to get it started, but once it gets going, anything that stands in its tracks will be forced out of its way.  Likewise, for a train to stop it takes a long time and a lot of effort, that is why they just keep on going until they reach their destination.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew this concept well.  In 1963, King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.  Determined to destroy the injustice of racism in America, he set out with the goal of reaching his destination.  His undying will eventually landed him in a jail cell, but that did not stop him, he kept going and forced the obstacle aside.  From the jail cell, he wrote this letter.  In his letter, he talks about many different solutions that our nation could use to resolve the problem.  Committed to solve injustice no matter what came his way, Reverend King showed his determination in this letter using the three common rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Writing from the heart, expressing feelings, having a strong emotional impact on ones audience, using an appeal to emotion and logic, using facts and presenting arguments in a professional way, to the enlightenment of one's viewers; Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail; consists of three Rhetorical Strategies throughout his letter that is known and taught around the world as ETHOS, PATHOS and LOGOS. An appeal to ethics, a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader (ethos), an appeal to emotion, and a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response (Pathos), and finally, an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason (Logos); these three Rhetorical Strategies are used countless times throughout Martin Luther King’s Letter for Birmingham Jail.

The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. explores the issues African-American dealt with in Birmingham and throughout the United States during the 1960’s. In the letter, Dr. King pleas to the reader’s emotions, ethics, and logic to justify his desire for racial justice and equality. Also, Martin Luther King utilizes ethos to establish his credibility and his right to address the issue at hand. Furthermore, Dr. King postulates, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” meaning that by helping the people in Birmingham, people around the country would also benefit. As previously stated, in his thesis he used ethos to establish his credibility and his reasons for his stay in Birmingham which comes to his position as president of the Southern

In the past there were many protest operated to fight for something injust or needed awareness for others to know the wrong doings that are present in our country. People fought for their rights and against the prejudice that they have to face, accomplish justice that every single one of them are fighting for. Dr. Martin Luther King, a leader of the protest against prejudice was able to pursue the rights for African American people. However eight of his fellow clergymen criticized his procedure to protest, but they still supported him. In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King wanted to encourage others to rebel against the wrong, even if it is not wise it is right, he was optimistic and yet disappointed. In order for him to convey his tone and purpose he reaches out to people by using allusion, analogy, and ethos.

Dr. King points out in his letter, “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined and legal nonviolent pressure” (45). By pointing out this quote, Dr. King wants his audience to see every single change achieved by African-Americans regarding race inequality were based on nonviolent action Even though he knows that African Americans are striving for change, he uses this historical record as an example to appeal to African- Americans’, who want to use violence in their protests, logic that they are more likely to persuade the American society to join them fighting against segregation if they implement nonviolent protest as their motto. Martin Luther King believes that by providing this type of examples, some people from his audience will follow the logic behind his example, and will have their mind changed regarding the use of violence to protest for desegregation. To make his example more effective in appealing to his secondary audience, Martin Luther King perfectly combines the appeal of pathos and logos by starting his example using the word “My friends”. By making a perfect combination of these two rhetorical appeals,

In the wake of the Civil Rights Era, many people in the United States were fighting for the end of segregation. There was one man in particular who was going above and beyond to bring about change: Martin Luther King Jr. He fought continuously for rights of African Americans even when he was, secluded from the world, in jail. One particular time, he was arrested for protesting the rights of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. Once in jail, he received criticism for his works by “fellow clergymen” regarding his “unwise and untimely” actions (King Jr.). To combat the comments made about him, King wrote a letter in response. He starts by giving the “four basic steps” in a nonviolent campaign: “collection of the facts to determine