Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

When mainly anyone thinks of the word “extreme” you will probably have a negative image or thought. Extreme is thought to be daring or rebellious maybe, but extreme can mean many different things, some of which are a good thing. Extremism is a big point in Martin Luther King Junior’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in some of his last few paragraphs. King uses different historical evidence and rhetorical strategies to appeal to his audience in different ways. It is good to use all these different strategies and devices because it gives King an advantage to appeal to his audience in different ways and persuade them in his writings. In paragraphs 27 through 31, King uses many different strategies that help him reflect his true image. He starts

They will have a constant crave for freedom until eventually something snaps and it gets to the point that they will do anything to get what they deserve. This is an appeal to logos because it appeals to logic and persuades the audience that this is an actual possibility. King also uses a little repetition in this paragraph when he reuses the word “repetition” in the following sentences. When King says “The United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice.”, he is referring to a biblical reference or analogy. As many know, especially churchgoers or my fellow Christian brothers and sisters, the Promised Land is a land of no more sorrow, pain, or sin. The promised land is a land given to us by God. Once again he is using a religious appeal to anyone who may believe in God or claim to be Christian that is reading this. It gives King a good image to reference the outcome he wants to. In one of the next lines, King mentions that if emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, it may result in violence. He then says that this isn’t a threat, but a fact of

In this paragraph, King starts right off the bat about being called an extremist. He mentions that it upset him at first, but then he started to think about it and said that it wasn’t such a bad thing because it was true. This statement contains a little bit of concede to the other side and agreeing with them about how he was an extremist. What they didn’t see coming was, he starts to name other extremists too. I want to say this, I believe this was a hard blow to his target when he says this, because many of these people were just like him, but succeeded and ended up as legends and huge people in history, as did King. The first person King mentions was the biggest. King says that Jesus Christ was an extremist for love, and actually gave a biblical quote that was said by Jesus. This was a target for pretty much anyone who believed in the word of God or at least believed in Jesus. The next is Amos, another biblical reference, but not known by as many. Actually, you would have to be pretty educated in the Bible to really know and understand the struggles Amos faced. This shows off Kings religious background and really appeals to the religious community. He then mentions plenty of other references that all appeal to different groups in the world. Some people like: the apostle Paul (a man with a great biblical story if you do not know it. One of my personal favorites), Martin Luther, King’s father, John Bunyan, Abraham Lincoln, and even Thomas