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Ethos Pathos Logos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Ariel Medina Professor Darvay English 1302 25 February 2023 King the Rhetorical Genius Martin Luther King was a man who knew how to speak to people and not just with politeness or manners. When he gave speeches he was able to deliver a message that would leave a lasting impact. Not only was Martin Luther King able to reach people in his speeches but also through his writing one for example being his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The most persuasive part of the letter is paragraph eleven. In paragraph eleven, King is not only able to invoke sympathy from others but also is able to clearly explain to the readers why they are beginning to strive towards achieving equality. Early on in paragraph eleven, Martin Luther King is able to use logos …show more content…

He can establish his character so the clergymen can see that he is doing these movements because he is also affected by the unjust treatment the colored community faces. King is also able to establish his character to other readers of his letter who may not be of color but may think like the clergymen do and find it hard to understand why they are doing this. This is where King’s experience helps others see that they can trust him and what he is saying because he has suffered along with …show more content…

In paragraph eleven when King is explaining his experiences and things he has seen, he describes the feeling of getting “tongue twisted” and how his “speech stammers” when he has to explain to his young daughter “why she can’t go to the public amusement park” because it is “closed to colored children” and now she has tears in her eyes (6). This can invoke a sad feeling because he is explaining a situation where he has to explain to his young child that since she is of color, she is unable to go to an amusement park. Furthermore, King explains how the young child begins to unconsciously develop “a bitterness toward white people” (6). King also includes a statement where he explains where his young son asks “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean? (6)” After reading these statements, readers can have an upset feeling because they can see that segregation is affecting the younger children and it is because of segregation that young children are beginning to grow up despising the other

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King was logos because he used logic to support him and with that logic he was able to contradict the clergymen's arguments. The logos used in Dr. King’s letter fulfilled their purpose by stopping the clergymen right in their tracks. “Having aided in this community need, we felt that our direct action could be delayed no longer” (09) Here he talks about how him and the other protesters are accused of not being patient but they actually had postponed the non-violent protests for quite a while, waiting for any new changes but everything was still the same. This helped Dr. King convince the clergymen to support him because it contradicts the claim that the clergymen had made which clearly stated that Dr. King and his supporting protesters were not patient enough to wait and see if there were any new changes.

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Logos is the use of facts and logic, often appealing to a person’s intellect and mind. King uses logos to sway the clergymen to his side of the argument surrounding racial injustice. For instance, King compares America to other nations to show how behind America is in the fight for equality: “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter” (King 582). This is a clear instance of King using logic and reasoning to persuade the clergymen. Another example of King using logos is when he notes that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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