What Are The Rhetorical Strategies Used In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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.

What do you visualize when you think of a jail cell? Some might see restraints blocking them off from the rest of the world, feel cold metal or scratchy cloth against their skin, or experience the stench of sweat and despair. Martin Luther King Jr. saw a quiet place to write. After being arrested under the charge of “parading without a permit,” Dr. King used his eleven days in the Birmingham City Jail to respond to one specific instance of criticism through a letter geared to each of the many audiences that needed to learn about the desegregation campaign. Mr. King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” is absolutely effective at convincing the overall audience to join and support the desegregation movement in Birmingham and across America as a result of: Reverend King’s credibility as an author due to life experience and personal background on the topic, his deep relation to and understanding of his audience(s), and his use of many types of rhetorical devices to develop eloquent, attention-grabbing writing.

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from the Birmingham Jail, he argues that segregation is inhumane and is hurting the American society as a whole. All the time and energy that goes into segregation is slowing down the American society’s progress to succeed as a nation. He uses several rhetoric strategies that help adopt a tone that is both personal and logical. King was able to incorporate the rhetoric triangle into his letter and still managed to address his arguments. While using pathos, ethos, and logos, Martin Luther King Jr. was able use the clergymen’s accusations to successfully promote his own views and opinions instead.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who genuinely knew how to capture his audiences with his words. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” makes an appeal to his reader about the injustices that have been set in place by the oppressor. In the letter he talks about numerous things, mortal authority in Christian communities, American ideas, and the suffering of the African American community. Dr. King uses logos to persuade the reader why he s protesting in the first place because the oppressor has broken the negotiation between the whites and the African American. His logical argument to why the ideal way to proceed with non-violent protests is because of the political decisions that have been made. An example he brings up is the idea of there being just and unjust laws in America and as citizens those unjust should be deliberately disobeyed. Dr. King says, “Conversely, one has a mortal responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all” he soon starts to define what both type of laws means…”A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law…An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the mortal law.” In order to persuade his reader about the idea he has do more than engage with the readers emotions. By Dr. King defining what the difference between the two laws sets a more conceiving idea of the treatment towards African American. Martin Luther King basic point is unjust laws do not just hurt the one being oppressed but also the one doing the oppressing. This is more of logos appeal for the reason he is not trying to connect with the reader emotionally but rather make sure the reader understands his cause for the protests.

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.

In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail) written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the three artistic appeals of Aristotle are plainly apparent, especially logos. Dr. King repeatedly appeals to logos (Ruszkiewicz) throughout the entire piece; particularly when he says he was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist then gradually gained a matter of satisfaction from the label. He is very impassioned in his language and tone in this part of the letter, yet still makes a strong argument for logic. Despite the overwhelming emotional and personal investment involved Dr. King still allows logic to prevail thus lending him a huge amount of credibility. As a member of the community being persecuted in

“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr., is a letter in which King is writing to his “fellow clergymen” in a response to their recent criticism of the actions he was leading in Birmingham at the time. The letter was written in April of 1963, a time when segregation was essentially at a peak in the south. Birmingham, in particular, is described by King as “probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King 7). King goes on to inform the clergymen of the reality of the situation where he is and how waiting isn’t an option anymore. In the letter, King uses a variety of rhetorical

The rhetorical device used most effective in the Letter Of Birmingham Jail written by Martin Luther King Jr. is allusion, or an indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. For example, in the letter it says in 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed the segregation in the public schools. This explains Another example is in paragraph 3, it states that, “...just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world…”

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Junior uses logos and allusion to persuade the reader on the values of civil disobedience. A prime example of logos in this text is, “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(MLK, 13).” This example of logos shows the reasoning for civil disobedience and why people act upon it. For a minority to be targeted by a law that they had no part in is intolerable. The primary value for civil disobedience is equality. For a country to have a law against a minority is against the beliefs and values of civil disobedience. “There are just and there are unjust laws… An unjust law is

On April 16 of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham” while sitting in a Birmingham jail in Alabama. During this time Alabama was a place where segregation was prevalent, and Dr. King had nonviolent protests to bring to light these issues. This letter by Dr. King was written as a reaction to Alabama clergyman who was against his nonviolent protests and directed at them. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King effectively uses the rhetorical strategy of pathos to achieve his purpose of justifying his cause for protest, a model that can be applied to the upcoming portfolio project. Rhetorical Strategy

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.

Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was able to captivate many people during a time where African Americans were considered inferior. He stood up for himself and others and vowed to make a change in his community and around the country. The words he were extremely powerful and are still remembered today. Some of his words aroused people and caused them to want to make a change (pathos), and others appealed to reason and used evidence (logos). Dr. King used pathos more frequently in his I Have a Dream speech and used logos more prominently in the Letter from Birmingham Jail letter.

Racism has been prevalent in the lives of many for years, which has utterly prevented many to feel fully integrated in society. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. addresses these concerns. While reading these passages I was fascinated by Dr. King’s strategies within his wording and how he used rhetorical devices to get this point across. Yet. reading this letter made me realize that he had a point, racism had intensified over the years and change had to occur eventually. Injustice reigned over Birmingham which prompted people to seek justice, yet their voices and cries were ignored. People opposed the non violent demonstrations that were taking place, yet refused to take the time to listen to the concerns and opinions

Martin Luther King Jr. uses prolepsis to open his letter and jump straight into addressing the clergymen’s argument in a way that makes him more credible right from the start. King chose to use the clergymen’s own words to address their concerns early on by saying “I came across your recent statement calling our present activities “unwise and untimely.” (1) When he uses the clergymen’s words he draws the reader into the situation and addresses the argument early. King goes on to mention that he ordinarily doesn’t speak to critics of his work because he wouldn’t have the time, but he chose to respond because he believed the clergymen were of “genuine good will” (1) and that their criticisms were sincere, then respectfully notes that he hopes his response is patient and reasonable. Speaking with a respectful tone and calmly expressing why he writes the letter makes it easy for the reader to appeal to King.