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Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter To Birmingham City Jail

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On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from Birmingham City Jail.” This letter was intended to be a response to the eight clergymen of Alabama, who wrote a response concerning King, and the racial issues going on in Birmingham. The response of the eight clergymen was a way to criticize King and the Negro community for basically taking action. Referring to King’s efforts as “unwise and untimely.” Meaning, that it was not a convenient time to start protesting around town and getting attention. Meaning, stop trying to change how things work, and just wait for it. Key word, “wait.” That’s precisely what King did not want to do, he grew tired of hearing that four letter word his whole life, he and many others wanted to see change …show more content…

This could have been King’s way of capturing the emotional side of the audience. The use of Aristotle’s framework helps make this section of “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” that much stronger. The three rhetorical appeals are ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos having to do with the evidence, pathos has to deal with the audience’s emotions, and logos deals with the logic of the audience. Throughout this section of the letter, King relies on the pathos as the rhetorical appeal. He bases this section around the audience’s sense of emotions, which helps strengthen King’s …show more content…

After reading the letter it was clear to see that the main response went to the clergymen, yet there is a wider range of audiences that this letter was being directed to. The “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” was directed to everyone, if they were from the white or black community it was being directed towards them. It responded to the black community by retelling their experiences in the letter, as a reminder that they no more should have to wait for justice. The way it responded to the white community was by making them see all the hard times that an average Negro must go through just because people believe that the color of someone’s skin defines them, and their

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