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Summary of the article of letter from birmingham jail
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In letter to birmingham jail, despite the fact that ethos was utilized extremely well, we can trust pathos and logos are utilized most adequately with the representations of what African American confronted each day, cases in history in which the law was wrong, and the makeup of unfair laws. Dr. King depicts what they needed to look consistently and the psychological toll it took against African American families, which is a prime case of tenderness. Logos is demonstrated through recorded occasions were the law was not like it was in the Holocaust. Logos is additionally demonstrated when King depicts the contrasts between an equitable and vile law, for instance if a law benefits just a few society and damages the entire, it isn't a decent law.
The Storms Of Injustice “...Ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky” (King 582). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was a prominent figure for the civil rights movement, serving as one of the figureheads in the fight for justice in the south. On April 16, 1963, King was imprisoned in Birmingham jail based on a peaceful protest he had participated in against the unconstitutional bans on race mixing in places like schools, hospitals, and trains. When King was in jail, he wrote a response, titled “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to concerns sent in by white clergymen surrounding his recent activities which they called “unwise and untimely.” Throughout the letter, King often uses the three rhetorical appeals, Pathos, Ethos, and Logos.
King’s periodic sentence structure allows the clergymen and the public to hold suspense and sympathy until the end of the sentence. Nonetheless, the clergymen state, in the last paragraph, that they “further strongly urge our own [African American] community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham”. With the use of imperative sentence structure, the clergymen’s requests become authoritative, which makes it harder for the audience to sympathize with the clergymen’s arguments. Consequently, not only does King’s appeal to pathos stimulate an emotional response from the audience, but it also helps the audience connect to King’s point of
While Dr. King was in the Birmingham jail he wrote a letter responding to the clergymen comments about his movement. The letter was a professional and descriptive reply to all of the clergymen and their blind racism. These rebuttals were effective because they were able to use pathos/ethos and logos to make an effective and persuasive response. One way Martin Luther King responds to the clergymen effectively is through his ability to use logos.
The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was released on April 16th 1963 in response to 8 prominent clergymen in Alabama. These clergymen had criticized Doctor Martin Luther Jr. about being a radical extremist for the civil rights movement. Also, the clergymen tried to leverage the black community to disassociate themselves with the protest MLK was having. They claimed his protest were untimely and meant to incite violence amongst the patrons of Alabama and further polarize whites and blacks. In response, Dr. King devises a writing masterpiece with this letter from the Birmingham Jail by utilizing ethos, logos, and pathos to express his frustration with the white moderates.
King also elaborates on a few emotional details to establish a connection with his audience. King expresses great sadness as he takes the time to recall several painful experiences that he and other people of color know all too well. He confronts the clergymen about what it is like to have “vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim” (King 2). He even goes on to expose the “hate-filled policemen” who “curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity” (King 2). Dr. King ends by declaring that “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair” (King 2).
Another strategy is the use of pathos, he uses vivid and powerful language to evoke empathy and compassion from his audience. He shares his personal experiences of racism and injustice
Unlike many great civil right leaders that tried to end segregation, Martin Luther King did not just talk about the problem that they were facing in his speeches or letters. He included well thought throughout plans that will help solve the problems peacefully and he actually did get some things done from leading the African American civil right movement. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King uses valid historical context and figures to make his point. He also uses pathos, logos and ethos to affectively support his argument that what he was doing was just.
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. is responding to criticism of the peaceful protests and sit-in’s that were taking place in Birmingham, which led to his being arrested and the reason that he was in jail. He first responds to the accusation of being an “outsider” by setting the stage for his being in Birmingham due to being invited because of his ties to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and due to the fact that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Next, Martin Luther King expands on his moral beliefs that there is “injustice” in the way that Birmingham is “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States”.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy” (King, Jr.). Martin Luther King Jr. exceeded this “measure of a man” during his civil rights acts as a strong soldier in a very volatile time. During this time of “challenge and controversy” King made himself heard in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In some of his civil rights acts that occurred in Birmingham, resulted in him ending up in jail. During his time in jail, he wrote his also famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.”
By stating who he is, King lets the reader know that his voice matters when it comes to responding to the clergymen. And as a result, he has the ability to gain the trust of the reader which then allows them to be persuaded by what he has to say. Now as for pathos, King uses this appeal throughout his letter by giving examples of what it is like to be black. The example that stood out the most to me was when King writes, “when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your 6-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children” (79). King’s use of pathos in this quote targets the emotions of the reader by revealing how children face the injustices of segregation.
To bring forth a new argument- one that white Christian clergymen would listen to. King decides to use his daughter- children being the key to get into heaven with their undying trust and faith- to garner pity for the African- American struggle. He uses an anecdote from when he had to tell his daughter she couldn’t go to the new amusement park and he sees the “tears welling up in her eyes” because the amusement park is “closed to colored people”. Instead of writing about the violent African- American struggle, King decides to focus on the psychological aspect of being black and how it affects children, so that they grow up with “ominous clouds of inferiority” brewing in their mind, developing an “unconscious bitterness towards white people”, diminishing their trust and faithfulness towards God. Mr. King also appeals to emotions through the repetition of words or phrases in various sentences.
King's fundamental argument in the Birmingham letter is that racial injustice toward the black community in America is a result of ongoing support from the white community, notably from influential communities in politics and church. Dr. King uses Ethos most effectively, through the use of this statement where he says “I have the honor of serving as president of the southern christian leadership conference.” (King, 1963, Letter from Birmingham Jail) this is significant because he is attempting to show that he has the capabilities to run as a president and stop all the discrimination. This quote is extremely effective in persuasion in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Not only do we see an example of this here, we also see it when he says “the political leaders consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation.
In his letter “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Junior, effectively uses diction and syntax, employs many rhetorical strategies, such as ethos and anaphora, and supports the audience, speaker, and his purpose to help further his argument to convince people that segregation is wrong. Martin Luther King, Junior, writes from his jail cell with a purpose. A purpose to answer criticism of his work and ideas that lands him in jail and to explain the reason behind his work and ideas, so that others will understand and agree with him. He wants to justify his actions to stop segregation and help people realize that they should not be throwing him in jail, but instead they should be looking through his eyes and seeing what hardships he, along with every other African American, is experiencing due to segregation.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letters from the Birmingham City Jail” to clergymen, from a confined cell. This letter has many points concerning what is happening with the segregation of blacks and whites. The King has a purpose of writing this because of his use of ethos, pathos, and logos, along with the way he justifies himself, and lastly his motivation to more past this dilemma. The use of Ethos is very much used in this letter, which makes him have credibility is the incident of injustice.
