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Rhetorical devices used in mlk speech
Rhetorical devices used in mlk speech
Mlk birmingham rhetorical strategies
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In Robert Kennedy’s speech on the death of Martin Luther, Kennedy uses ethos and pathos to convince the audience that the death of Martin Luther King Jr. is not something that should cause hate and violence. Instead, Kennedy tries to convince them that King’s death should be used as something to unite the people. Kennedy uses ethos when he informs the audience that he had experienced similar feelings when his brother, John Kennedy, was also killed by a white man. This shows the audience that he knows what they are feeling and that he genuinely feels sad about Martin’s death. He also uses ethos when tells the audience that he is “filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act”.
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.
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.
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.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has long been a symbol of nonviolence not only in America, but in the World as a whole. The article written by Cesar Chavez establishes ethos, pathos, and logos as rhetorical devices in order to convey his opinion. First, Cesar Chavez establishes a sense of ethos in his article. As a civil rights leader, it is clear that Chavez has a lot of knowledge on the topic of choosing between violence and nonviolence to get a point across. Another way that ethos is established within the article is by giving reference to ideas that Dr. King himself had.
How cool would it be to stand up for something that you believe is right and make a change in history well that is what Dr Martin Luther King Jr did. In the “I Have a Dream Speech” by Martin Luther King Jr he is promoting civil rights to a crowd by the Lincoln Memorial. Also his letter “Letter From Birmingham Jail” he was writing back to eight clergymen who criticized his ideas and beliefs about the civil right movement. In his speech and in his letter he uses logos and pathos, but he uses them different in his speech and in the letter I will be comparing his two text and see how he uses them.
Martin Luther King, Jr. uses ethos to appeal to his audience. MLK stated he would have not allowed a person to go without or let someone suffer. MLK states, “Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.” (p. 4)
In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau essay “Civil Disobedience,” both share their opinions on social injustice and civil disobedience. They both believe that people can protest unfair and unjust laws imposed on them in a civil way. In addition, King and Thoreau are challenging the government with their essays, which they wrote after they got sent to jail. For protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama, King spent eleven days in jail; Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Both King and Thoreau’s essays present similar plans for a resolution.
The 1950s was an era of great conflict. A group of Americans protested against inequality and injustice during this time. African Americans had been fighting against racial discrimination for years. When imprisoned for “parading without a permit,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes a letter in response to eight clergymen using ethos, pathos, and logos to defend the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. Dr. King starts by using ethos to reinforce his views in the letter.
One time he used ethos in the sixth paragraph of the speech when he talks about how african americans are not truly free an example of hm saying that is “ One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.” this quote uses ethos to talk about how it is unethical that
During the era of the civil rights movements in the 60s, among the segregation, racism, and injustice against the blacks, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to deliver one of the greatest public speeches for freedom in that decade. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Opening his speech Martin Luther King Jr. sets up his credibility with his use of ethos, referring to the Declaration of Independence saying, “This note was a promise that all men… would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life.”
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.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an extremely impactful activist during the Civil Rights Movement that gave over 2,500 speeches in his lifetime. Of these speeches, his most popular is his famous I Have a Dream speech that he gave on August 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C. during the March on Washington. Even famous speakers like Martin Luther King, Jr. use persuasive techniques to appeal to the different sides of their audiences. In order to appeal to his predominately African American audience, Martin Luther King, Jr. makes reference to Abraham Lincoln and his granting freedom to slaves by signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Civil Rights Movement was a big thing for the United states and we as Americans will always remember Martin Luther King Jr. for helping lead the people and inspire change and bring hope. The speech “ I Have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an important gathering of people at the Lincoln Memorial. A huge crowd gathered to listen to his powerful speech which helped to inspire change. Martin Luther King also wrote a letter to eight white clergymen named “Letter From Birmingham Jail” the letter was written in in his jail cell which he was in for marching and protests. In both of these texts Dr. King used pathos and logos to inspire change and reach out to the people during the civil rights movements.
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.
