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Examples Of Logos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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In Martin Luther King Jr's “letter from Birmingham Jail” he uses logos to support his argument that nonviolent resistance is a necessary means of achieving civil rights for African Americans. Kings use of logos in the letter is evident in his use of facts, statistics, and examples.

King uses logos to demonstrate the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. He cites numerous examples of successful nonviolent protests throughout history, including the Boston tea party and Gandhi's salt march. He states, “nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards, it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent. This is why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight."He also states “any law that degrades human personality is unjustifiable” By using these examples, King shows that nonviolent resistance is a legitimate and effective means of achieving change. …show more content…

He argues that African Americans have been oppressed for centuries and that change is long overdue. He states “for years now i have heard the word ‘wait’ and it rings in the ear of every negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘wait’ has almost meant' ‘never’' and that “all segregation is unjustifiable because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” By using this argument, King shows that the civil rights movement is not moving too fast, but rather that it is moving too

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In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, he uses logos and pathos to effectively argue nonviolent protest movement is wise and timely.   In his first point, Martin Luther King Jr. says that it is historical truth that groups with privileges often do not give those up by themselves. In the second part, Martin Luther King Jr. says that he has always heard the word wait when talking about gaining their freedoms, but he thinks that the wait means never.

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The clergymen doubted the ideas of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but in his candid letter, he explained that what the clergymen have heard is only a facet of this argument and that there is a legitimate reason which caused Dr. King and his people to begin protesting and boycotting. In the letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King explains the reasons that led him to support the peaceful, nonviolent protests. To be able to accomplish his goal of telling the clergymen the true story that had happened, Dr. King used three main methods. Out the three main methods, ethos, pathos, and logos, only one had truly succeeded, logos. Logos was the only technique which was not subtle; this strategy told the cause of the problem in a straightforward

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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.

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Social activist, Martin Luther King Jr, in his letter, Letter from Birmingham Jail, addresses the exigency of changing segregation laws. King’s purpose is to emphasize the damage the segregation laws have brought upon black people. He adopts an urgent tone in order to establish that he is tired of waiting for change to occur in his clergymen readers. King appeals to emotion in his letter to the clergymen from Birmingham by declaring that he is tired of hearing the world “wait” by the people who have never felt the effects of the segregation laws.

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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.

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The right to fight Martin Luther King Jr. faced many difficulties when he visited Birmingham, but one he did not expect to face was the discrimination of his fellow clergymen, who stated that his decision to travel was unwise. King responded to their comment with the “Letter from Birmingham jail”. A well written piece which was eloquently written and geared to effectively prove to his peers that he deserves and has the right to be in Birmingham, having a profound effect on his audience due to his expert use of pathos, ethos, and logos. This provides a myriad of references and reasons to address the inhumanity of segregation, as well as his personal struggle to dissolve

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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.

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It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Both a practical and a moral answer to the Negro’s cry for justice, nonviolent direct action proved that it could win victories without losing wars, and so became the triumphant tactic of the Negro Revolution of 1963” (12). I believe that this paragraph is a perfect way to summarize what King discusses in his book. He emphasized the importance of nonviolence and his belief on it.

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He constructs explicit images for the reader so that they understand exactly the point he is communicating. King argues that time “is neutral” and uses the following metaphor to explain why the supporters of civil rights must take advantage of time, in the passage,“We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels on inevitability.” Another angle which King adopts to dispute the remarks that blacks must wait for rights is to show the deplorable conditions in which the average black individual had to endure in society. King's metaphors jump to life in lines such as “...when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society...” as he portrays what life is like for african americans and why waiting is not an option. Martin Luther King Jr. does an excellent job, through the device of metaphors, of putting his thoughts into action for the reader to clearly see the purpose of immediate direct

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King persuades the clergymen to accept the black American’s strive for independence by pulling on America’s heartstrings and its love for freedom. Using this idea of independence, he tells the clergymen that it is time for black Americans to attain freedom, similar to America’s path of sovereignty from Britain’s cruel control many years ago. Essentially, King expresses meaningful, yet tragic events and injustices along with common desires between black and white people to explain the circumstances as to why he advocates for

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In these texts, King effectively persuades his audiences using pathos and logos. In Martin Luther King Jr. – “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he captures both pathos and logos. Dr. King

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No matter what anyone says and thinks, without first hand experience of segregation, lynching, brutality, and inequality one can not understand how urgent such civil rights are and how waiting is not an option. “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”(Dr. King 2). Dr. King is speaking to the fact

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When speaking of the unjust happening, he expresses, “We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: ‘For Whites Only’”. (pg 2) King brings to light the extent of racism they experience and uses children to touch people in a different way. This treatment towards African Americans goes beyond what is shown. Additionally, when speaking of life as a black individual, King states, “We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highway.” (pg2)

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251 Words | 2 Pages

We live in a world with currently many conflicts from the racial disparity in high incarceration rates to gun violence and the war over gun rights. In his letter, King describes that Black Americans have no identity and that the oppressed cannot remain oppressed forever. King implies that they cannot be told to “wait for justice” because if they simply

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732 Words | 3 Pages

“Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” (King). King calms the African Americans who are being oppressed by using the words, “this situation can and will be changed.” and “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.” which gives them hope that there will be a new day when a change will take place.

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