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How Does Martin Luther King Jr Use Ethos Pathos Logos

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Martin Luther King Jr. uses the rhetorical appeal of logos to help reinforce his argument for civil disobedience. He further supports his claim through the use of antithesis. King uses logos to point out the flaws of the treatment of minorities and the and the justice system by stating “Its ugly record f police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of negros in the courts is a notorious reality” on page 6. King uses logos to prove that using civil disobedience would be more effective than trying to change society through law and order. King saying that the courts are generally unjust enhances the argument to not change society by trying to get the laws through courts because the cases presented would be
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156 Words | 1 Pages

In paragraph 15, Dr. King's rhetoric helped to advance his purpose in writing the letter. Dr. King uses logos in paragraph 15 to show his reasoning on the matter of justice, in order to move people to act on this important matter. This paragraph helps the reader to see the importance of "acting quickly" in regards to justice because in that time, justice was hard to achieve. As Dr. king states "for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights". Several people have expressed a sense of inessential thinking towards the matter. For people who have "never felt the stinging darts of segregation" it is easy for them "to say, "Wait", and this is why Dr. King has to stress his point to another level in order for them to understand.

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402 Words | 2 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential civil rights leader. He wanted to bring all people together and live in a peaceful society. In his speech, King talked about how as a leader of a civil rights movement, he couldn't support the war in Vietnam. Martin Luther King Jr. persuaded his audience to not support the Vietnam war through his use of ethos and pathos.

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428 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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162 Words | 1 Pages

Martin Luther King used logos and repetition to persuade and explain his side of the story to his “fellow clergymen”. When MLK said, “There have been more unsolved bombings of negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal and unbelievable facts.” (Page 7 paragraph 1). This persuades the reader by stating facts about what is happening in Birmingham that you cannot disagree with.

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1475 Words | 6 Pages

King later writes, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (4). He is justified and had every right to protest in the city of Birmingham, for civil liberties and justice. Challenged by the opposing, white population, comfortable in their segregated establishments and ideologies. King utilizes logos to help his audience understand the urgency of the Civil Rights movement and directly address the criticisms against his presence in Birmingham. “Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application.

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563 Words | 3 Pages

Dr. Kings “I Have a Dream” speech shows powerful examples of logos and pathos. His effectiveness relies heavily on his usage of these two ways to explain the pain and suffering of segregation. By him capturing his true life’s reality through pity and credible sources allows him to become successful in attempting to end the racism crisis. King states that, “when our republic was writing the Declaration of Independence, they were making a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable rights’ of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Logos is the prime example of King using this event of writing the Declaration of Independence.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. was an Atlanta, Georgia born Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian and leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950’s until his unfortunate death on April 4th, 1968 at the age of 39. Dr. King is best known for his Christian based beliefs in using nonviolent civil disobedience during the civil rights movement. Dr. King has been involved in many civil rights demonstrations, protests, and speeches such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a political and social protest campaign against racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama that lasted from December 1st, 1955 – December 20th, 1956. Another civil rights demonstration Dr. King was involved in was The Albany Movement of 1961 which was a protest against segregation policies where Dr. King was scheduled to join the peaceful protest for one day, but instead was jailed with other fellow peaceful protesters and declined bail until Albany, GA changed its

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563 Words | 3 Pages

Essay #2: Argumentative Analysis Martin Luther King Jr. introduced a very controversial argument about why he believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(264). In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King stated that justice is never given by the oppressor and the reason why his protests were very relevant and wise was because the issues needed to be addressed right then and not later. Moving along throughout his entire letter his primary thesis seemed to be that if the people wanted to be free from racial injustice they needed to participate in nonviolent protests. Given his setting and atmosphere, MLK did an extremely impressive job of using kairos and other rhetorical techniques in his piece.

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564 Words | 3 Pages

King tells us that unjust laws are laws that are created by the majority in order to rule the minority, that being denied basic rights are unjust laws, and that some laws can be just or unjust depending on the circumstances.

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886 Words | 4 Pages

He wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and wrote his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the biggest visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement. This man was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In both of his writings, he used pathos and logos to appeal to the audience and fit the occasion.

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571 Words | 3 Pages

First of all, King believes that one has the moral responsibility to defy laws that are unjust. He believe that if we continue to follow the rule that unjust things will continue to occur. The only way to stop this unjust things is to disobey the laws that are unjust. King also believes that an unjust law is not a law. Therefore, he believed that if a law was unjust that it would not be a law therefore you can disobey it but must be ready to accept anything that follow.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

In “A Letter From A Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. He uses ethos to build up credibility.

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961 Words | 4 Pages

To begin with Dr. King used logos in his speech to educate the people and give them evidence and logic. Dr. King used both logos and pathos in his speech here is an example of logos used in his speech. “ Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, Signed the Emancipation Proclamation. ”(King 261) is the quote that Dr. King wrote in his speech. He is telling them that the African Americans have been free for five hundred years and that was a great point in history but the African Americans aren’t treated equally or fairly.

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853 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.

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874 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther uses logos effectively throughout his speech. Dr. King says,“ But one hundred years later, the Negro is not free” ( Luther). The fact is that one hundred year has past still no improvement on the situation. Another example is the analogy “ America has given the Negro people a bad check a check which has not come back marked insufficient funds”( King).He reasons that most people are understanding lack of money. King’s speech was effectively because of how he formatted his speech.

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