Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Well-known minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” masterfully craft his reply to the eight clergymen on their accusation that his nonviolent protest movement is “extreme”. King’s purpose is to influence to not only the clergymen themselves, but to convey to his audience that all his actions are justified and that they are not an exhortation to extremism. He creates a logical tone; moreover, with the incorporation of logical appeals and several rhetorical devices such as parallel structures and rhetorical questions, helps shift the audiences’ attention from the claim established by the clergymen to King’s point of view. King exhibits his view on the current situation in Birmingham, Alabama in which influenced him to be there; thus, inconsequently lead him to his imprisonment in Birmingham Jail. He acknowledges that there are two opposing forces that exist in Birmingham, one of which is stated, “[A] force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who […] become insensitive to the problems of the masses” (27) and “The other force is one of bitterness and hatred […] close to advocating violence” (27). In this logical observation; therefore, appealing to logos and

He demonstrates this by applying Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free” (31) and that of Thomas Jefferson’s “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” (31). King specifically used these to his advantages in order to not only remind the clergymen how and who helped this country came to be, but the explicit connotation of those words. The effect will be significant enough for the audience to relate and reflect how a nation can be capable of great damage from this foreseen