Tone and Writing Technique of "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Martin Luther King Jr., wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to enlighten the South that we are all created equal and should be treated as such. Though, King was making a broader statement not only for the south, the letter was directed at the clergymen. King uses three techniques to strengthen his argument against segregation, logic, biblical references, and extended vocabulary.

To further support his analysis of the law, King states a third definition of “an unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote” (PAR 14). This definition is given to show that there are unjust laws occurring. This implies that the white people are devaluing democracy and what it stands for. He states after that, clearly, Negroes are not allowed to vote in the state of Alabama regardless if they are the minority or not. He is stating that it is unjust for Negroes not to be able to vote. Although these statements do not directly answer the charges of the clergymen, King is building up to that answer. While defining the laws, King is focusing on what he believe is wrong and its relationship with unjust laws. King uses this technique to support breaking unjust laws to obey just laws.

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

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was a powerful and eloquent letter that effectively argued the point that segregation is fundamentally unjust and should be fought with nonviolent protest. This letter, through describing the injustice taking place during the civil rights movement also provided some insight about Dr. King’s view of the government in the 1960s. Three mains themes present in Dr. King’s letter were religion, injustice, and racism.

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

In the text King uses a load of logos to appeal to his audiences logic and open their eyes to see what is really happening. In paragraphs fifteen and sixteen King begins to use logos to get his audience to begin thinking about the just and unjust laws. King says one of his most impressive statements, in my opinion, in paragraph 16,”one has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” When he states this, King is getting is audience to begin considering the laws that he is requesting them to follow and the laws that are being broken and the difference between the two. The argument that King is trying to win here is the topic that they should not be breaking laws if they are going to be asking for laws to be made and changed, he is saying that there is a difference in laws that suppress one group and allow another to flourish and laws that give everyone equal opportunity to live the American Dream. To give more backing and

In his letter, “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior uses a didactic tone to inform his audience, eight critical clergy members, that direct action and peaceful protests are the only solution to racial segregation-a moral dilemma. This letter comes after Martin Luther was apprehended by police and confined in a jail cell due to an “extreme” peaceful protest against racist ideals. The didactic tone utilized in the letter can be characterized by Luther’s diction, language, and imagery.

After analyzing Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” I have come to the conclusion that his letter was a very fitting response to the rhetorical situation. Dr. King wrote this powerful letter from his Birmingham, Alabama jail cell in response to several clergymen who criticized the protests he organized as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He was masterful in his descriptive writing, exhibiting peaceful, yet stern and powerful influence in his words to condemn the behavior of the clergy. His words evoked emotion, as he described how his people felt, and why they were in Birmingham to stand up for desegregation in the South. In this moving letter, King was truly a master of rhetoric, for he managed to incorporate the three points of the rhetoric triangle, make them evident, and support his argument. Using logos, ethos, and pathos from the rhetoric triangle, King refuted the clergymen’s accusations and utilized their harsh points to present his own views instead. He presented his argument, used passionate rhetoric to explain the reasons they were wrong, and made the reader understand that segregation is fundamentally wrong in a society where all men are created equal.

uses figurative language and rhetorical appeal to appeal to his audience. On page 4 it states, “Like a boil that can never be cured so long as its covered up but must be opened with all of its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.” This detail explains that King uses similes to compare racial injustice with a boil to show that instead of covering them up, they should be exposed in order for them to be fixed. If the racial injustice is hidden from the nation and its people, it can’t be fixed and it will continue to go on. So, the people must take direct action for there to be change in America. It also states on page 8, “I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys…” This detail demonstrates that King uses pathos when describing the cruel treatment of the black people in jail. He does this to make the black Americans angry at the oppressors, more specifically the policemen, to make them take matters into their own hands. They would do this by joining Martin Luther King Jr.’s cause, which is the Civil Rights Movement. King uses figurative

Dr. Martin Luther King addressed many topics in, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He answered all the issues that were aimed towards him in a very skillful and well thought out manner. These issues came from, “A Call For Unity”, which was a letter that was published by eight local clergymen expressing their feelings about what Dr. King was doing. One concern in particular that King did an outstanding job of confronting was that of the clergymen’s anxiety about him breaking the law. King addresses the question of, “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” by clarifying that there are just and unjust laws. He also goes on to explain the difference between the two, the effect of unjust laws on the people that they are aimed towards, as well as examples of such laws. Furthermore, he explains why they should be broken and gives examples of when they’ve been broken in the past with the usage of civil disobedience.

Martin Luther King Junior has many well know words from his “I Have a Dream” speech and from his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He uses the literary devices logos and pathos to support his evidence in his speeches and writings. In Martin Luther King Jr’s writings and speeches he uses more pathos throughout. MLK mainly got to your emotions and made you think if what you were doing or thinking was right.

Throughout Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” He expresses much passion. King not only used this letter in response to the several clergymen, but he has a bigger audience in mind as he goes along. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses persuasive techniques to respond to the negative letter he received. King uses not just one persuasive techniques in different parts of his letter to better get his point across, which allows the letter to better relate to all who read it. By clearly stating the problem, and going over how it can be resolved in a just, fair manner, King go against the clergymen’s letter with a clear and persuasive mind set.

“The Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written by Jr. Martin Luther King to Fellow Clergymen because he joined the nonviolent campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, to fight for justice. His letter answered to the “A Call for Unity” clergymen, who said that the fight for social injustices should only be in the courts. However, the court does not only never solve the racial segregation, but also ignore the problem for decades. King Jr. believes in some principles that will be discussed in this paper

Imagine living in a time when segregation was legal, where you couldn’t go to a certain place, where you could not do certain things all because you were born of a certain race. This is what life was like for the African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement in the twentieth century. Activist Martin Luther King Jr. did a series of nonviolent protesting and helped calmly handle the situations that came with it. After being his protest in Birmingham, King wrote the “Letter to Birmingham Jail”, in which he responds to the clergymen, by utilizing anaphoras, rhetorical questions, and allusions, to declare that through nonviolence and compromises, justice can be provided.

King begins his letter to the clergymen of Birmingham by comparing his actions to that of biblical figures, seeking social justice. He appeals to the audience’s religious beliefs by paralleling the actions taken place. Stating “Just as the prophets of the eight century B.C. left their villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.” He furthermore clarifies that with a nonviolent social tension, the discrimination will be brought into full view of society. He demonstrates this by stating, “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind