Pathos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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In the letter, Dr.King defends peaceful protests using ethos, diction, and pathos, which strengthens his case. He wants to win the clergymen's support in his struggle against racial injustice. He establishes credibility by utilizing ethos. ¨I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership conference¨(pg 272), he says, demonstrating his professionalism and dependability . In the Letter an example of diction is when he repeats the words ¨just¨ and ¨unjust. For example when he says ¨Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.¨(pg 276) . He chose to say that to justify peaceful protests. Dr.King uses pathos in the letter to appeal to the audience's emotions. Such