Rhetoric In Letter From Birmingham Jail

In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses rhetoric to provide firsthand accounts of the suffering blacks have endured. He gives evidence to why he is right for breaking laws while leading civil disobedience movements. He creates his image among his audience as a figure they feel compassion towards. His letter successfully persuades the King establishes an emotional attachment between him and the reader, beginning with his belief that all Americans are connected to one another. What happens to one American happens to all Americans; we are bound to each other, we are united with one another, we are tied together by a “network of mutuality” (King 1). After establishing this bond from nationalism, King creates an overwhelming

Beginning with an explanation of just laws and unjust laws, and how just laws are being abused to press suffering onto blacks, King explains his recent arrest in Birmingham as a just law being applied to him in an unjust manner. He believes that “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust” (King 3). To reinforce his illegal actions being just, he presents the reader with the actions of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Hitler created race laws that prevented Jews, including those with German ancestry, that stripped them of any basic rights. In addition, maltreatment of Jews in Germany was encouraged, praised, and considered necessary for the country to attain its lost power. King’s ability to reinforce his argument in a refined manner with factual evidence becomes the key stone to building his

He makes himself a hero amongst his audience with statements such as “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham” (King 1). The determination to move towards the sound of chaos King displays is equivalent to the determination found is soldiers. He continues to build the himself as a hero when presenting the comparison of Hitler and the illegal act of supporting Jews with the statement “I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers…” (King 4). A common trait of a hero is the courage to do something they know to be right when those around you believe it to be wrong. And just as a firefighter charges into the fire to save those that are trapped, knowing full well their health is at risk, King convinces the reader that he too would put himself at risk by defying Hitler. By characterizing himself as a hero, the audience will be fond of King, and more willing to give their