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King's Rhetoric In The Letter Of Birmingham Jail

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King uses rhetoric in The Letter of Birmingham Jail to advance his purpose powerfully. King writes this letter as a response to the eight clergymen that indirectly target his actions and state false accusations. These eight clergymen do not understand the rationale King advocates throughout his non-violent protests, therefore King retaliates by writing a letter. This letter uses rational tone throughout to get these eight men and even more so the public to understand the purpose of his activist movements. Firstly, King opens up his letter to a great amount of ethos. Credibility in a speaker is a huge step of rhetoric to have, since an audience needs to notice that the speaker knows what they are talking about. If a speaker can not prove to …show more content…

King uses pathos to trigger the emotions of his readers to understand the emotional trauma he and his people are going through. In his letter King expresses how he and his people go through tragic events, as he states how “[one’s] first name becomes “nigger,” [and one’s] middle name becomes “boy” (however old [he is],)” or how the police force let “its dogs [sink] their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes.” This shows traumatic emotional trauma in the reader as the reader realizes how horrible people like King have it in their segregated society. This also persuades the reader in believing in what he is saying due to the realization to how disturbing a colored life may be. Yet, King also uses pathos to inspire the people reading. After he explains how badly his people were treated, his pathos rhetoric fades for a little bit as later in the letter he builds it up from sadness to a tone of hopefulness. King uses inspirational phrases such as, “something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained.” This phrase shows how after all the brutality one goes through due to segregation, one still remains to fight for he rightfully deserves. With such determination and the power for these people to keep on fighting for what they should be rightfully given gives the reader a burst of passion and inspiration which may influence one to see from the point of view of

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JoAnna Guzman AP English Period 4 Mrs. Solis 5 February 2018 Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. letter “ Letter from Birmingham Jail” was a response to eight Alabama clergymen of 1963. The clergymen had accused King of being an “outsider” and interfering with the racial issues of the community of Birmingham. When writing in response to the eight clergymen from Alabama Martin Luther King Jr. uses the rhetorical device of historical and biblical allusions.

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In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.

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While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Several clergy who negatively critiqued King’s approach of seeking justice, wrote A Call for Unity, arguing that his protests were senseless and improper. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how King’s protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. His letter has become one of the most profound pieces of literature of the 20th century, as King uses vivid examples and eloquent rhetorical devices to counter all nine arguments.

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In this quote, Martin Luther stated that his critics disagreed with his decision to hold demonstrations in Birmingham but managed to weaken these claims by exposing the hypocrisy within them. He does this numerous times within the letter, using a persuasive structure to dismantle the opposition’s arguments. Throughout the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King also used metaphors and comparisons to bring attention to

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In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” it can easily be argued that King used many rhetorical devices such as anaphora and tone in order to further persuade his audience to take action on behalf of the Civil Rights movement. Through copious examples, the reader is presented with King’s effort to use repetition in order to drive his point as well as being presented with the changing tone of his writing which allows the reader to experience a shift in emotions and urgency throughout the

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These two paragraphs show, truly, how and why segregation was an unjust law without going into segregation itself, this is another reason I think that paragraphs 6 and 7 are the strongest in this letter. These paragraphs mention segregation and talk about a situation of segregation, but they never go into great detail on segregation. They merely talk about what makes a law unjust or just and with that they prove segregation was unjust. I think that because King can prove that segregation is an unjust law without going into segregation itself is amazing and that it helped to strengthen both his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and civil rights

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King follows the rest of the letter with more emotional cries, which included the split that had formed within the black community, on the argument of civil rights; Some had begun to settle for segregation, including some of the clergymen who had criticized King. Near the end, he opposes the clergymen's praise toward the Birmingham Police Department, by providing a vivid description of the attack on himself and his fellow protesters, leading up to his arrest. MLK closes his letter by stating his current situation, apologizing for the letter's length, and portraying a deep sense of pity, as he wishes for all to find faith for a better future. Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham City Jail makes heavy use of ethos and logos to clarify issues and concerns from his criticizers, but relies even more on the emotional connection that it portrays on the reader.

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A Letter From Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. is a name that will never be forgotten, and that will go down in the books for all of time. He was foremost a civil rights activist throughout the 1950s and 1960s. during his lifetime, which lasted from January of 1929 to April of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and a social activist and was known for his non- violent protests. He believed that all people, no matter the color, have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take a direct action rather than waiting forever for justice to come through and finally be resolved. In the Spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stated in a speech that Birmingham was among one of the most segregated cities in the world.

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King shows Ethos in his letter by writing back to the clergy men who had objections against King’s protest in Birmingham. They basically called him an outsider but by establishing his credibility, King shows that he is in fact an

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In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he provides answers to fundamental metaphysical questions regarding the nature of the human soul. Though his letter is addressed to a group of eight clergymen criticizing his direct action campaign in Birmingham, his ultimate aim is the uplifting of human personhood. Underlying King’s letter is a philosophical, hylemorphic anthropology which puts an anchor deep into a certain conception of personhood, and binds all people who are to read it. He looks deeply at the nature of human beings, as rational creatures who are made to love and be loved, and from thence, deliberates that there is a universal Gospel of Freedom and Justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. asserts that there are universal principles justifying what actions are morally right and wrong, just and unjust.

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Upon being imprisoned for marching Dr Martin Luther King wrote a letter to the fellow clergymen of Birmingham, addressing his reasons as to why he committed his “crime”, This letter was widely known as “The Letter of Birmingham”. This letter was very influential and paramount to the cause of civil rights as it spurred up future events that would play essential roles in ending racial segregation in America. Throughout his whole letter, King used Ethos, logos, and pathos to firmly get his message across while adding rhetorical devices such as repetition, metaphors, and biblical references.

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MLK states in paragraph 3, “...just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.” King uses an analogy to give his audience an idea of what he is doing when fighting for civil rights. Lastly, King uses a rhetorical question in his letter. He asks the question on page 278 in paragraph 24, “But is this a logical assertion?” MLK uses this question to make his

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A majority of the 13 and 14th paragraph contain a sorrowful emotion. King uses such heart wrenching examples such as when he talks about mothers and fathers getting lynched and brothers and sisters getting drowned. These examples are definitely the most persuasive technique in the 13 and 14th paragraph as you would imagine your father, mother, sister, and brother suffering these for absolutely no reason. King shows how bad it is for the children as he tell the audience about having to answer a six-year-old girl why they can go to “funtown” or answer to a five-year-old boy about why white people are so mean. He uses children because they are young and innocent and having to live such a rough life.

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Dr. King's, "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is poignant in many ways in regard to a "big picture" viewpoint of our society. Overall, it speaks to the viewpoint that we all have a social responsibility to each other to work against injustice irrespective of where that injustice takes place. "Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham. Dr. King told the local clergy in Birmingham that he understood he was an outsider and he realized that his presence in Birmingham would cause trouble. However, he also felt that he had a moral

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“...when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.” (MLK, 276). King uses this strong sense of appeal to emotion to engross his readers and let them know how hard it is for them.

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