Martin Luther King uses Logos and repetition to enhance his argument for civil disobedience. On the first page of Letter from Birmingham Jail King uses the logical method for nonviolent campaigns for the format of his letter saying, “1) collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive. 2) Negotiation. 3) Self-purification and 4) direct action.” King bases his entire letter on these four steps. In order to show that they are the steps of any nonviolent campaign. This is very logical because it is purely fact that these are the steps.
Martin Luther King Junior was phenomenal at using rhetoric devices to prove his points. This is made extremely apparent in his letter titled, A Letter from Birmingham Jail. In this pice of writing he uses two different types of Ethos, along with definition, pathos, periodic sentences, and diction. Martin uses all of these to reply to the group of clergymen who sent him a letter while he was in prison. In their letter they said that Martin should stop causing public disturbances.
In paragraphs 33 to 44 of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to “A Call for Unity,” a declaration by eight clergymen, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), he expresses that despite his love for the church, he is disappointed with its lack of action regarding the Civil Rights Movement. Through powerful, emotionally-loaded diction, syntax, and figurative language, King adopts a disheartened tone later shifts into a determined tone in order to express and reflect on his disappointment with the church’s inaction and his goals for the future. King begins this section by bluntly stating that he is “greatly disappointed” (33) with the church, though he “will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen” (33). By appealing to ethos and informing the audience of his history with the church, he indicates that he is not criticizing the church for his own sake, but for the good of the church.
Dr. Martin Luther King was a well-known civil rights activist, and through his works, and actions he played an important part in building modern day America. His works include the famous I have a dream speech, March to Washington, and many more famous protests. A well known document written by King was the letter of Birmingham, written on April 16, 1963. The letter was a response to the clergyman who called King's actions "unwise and untimely." In the letter, King used rhetorical devices and appeals, to convey and develop his argument, that change was needed, and that his activities were, in fact, not unwise and untimely.
On April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, a persistent civil rights leader, addressed 8 white clergymen on the way they responded to the protests from nonviolent Negros. He supports this claim by first emphasizing that all of what is going on is part of their heritage and how everyone has rights, then by telling them breaking the law and standing up for what they believe in embodies the American spirit, and finally indicates the protesters are heroes and they are doing what they can to defend themselves and show others their side of what is going on. Through King’s use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades the clergymen and the people of the U.S, to fathom what is happening everyday around them and
On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King, a Civil Rights Activist and Church Minister, in his letter entitled Letter from Birmingham City Jail, demands equal rights for all people. He supports this claim by first asserting our American Heritage of freedom and our God-given right. Then, claiming the need for protest, which is better than protecting an unjust system, and finally declaring that it is everyday people who lead the protests and bring our nation to freedom for all. Through King’s use of tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools he effectively persuades the church and America to end racial segregation and be united as brothers. Martin Luther King informative and optimistic tone calls to action the church and people of America
King has mentioned many Biblical figures. Ones that inspire bravery and morality. This shows a switch in the rhetorical devices used. Before, he used ethos and logos. Now, he has begun to use pathos, which is the appeal to emotions.
On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. addressed several clergymen in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on the aspects of their criticism on his actions and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during their protests in Birmingham. In this letter King shows his great knowledge with the use of rhetorical strategies. King writes to the clergymen about how he feels toward their criticisms, in his words readers are able to comprehend his frustrated ethical appeals, his sympathetic emotional appeals, and his logical appeals of experience. He makes an ethical appeal as he goes on to address their concerns with frustration, about his presence in Birmingham since they have note him as an outsider. But, however he provides a reason for his presence, which he claims
This is evident because allusions, logos, pathos, metaphors, repetitions, and more are included in his story to develop his ideas. For instance, King stated, “Consciously and unconsciously, he has been swept in by what the Germans call the Zeitgeist…”(par. 23). By alluding to the Zeitgeist, which is a dominant set of ideas and beliefs that motivate the actions of the members of a society in a particular period in time, King allowed us to visualize the idea that oppressed people cannot remain oppressed because we can compare the urge to freedom as the set of ideals and belief in the Zeitgeist. Another example is that King stated, “It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration”(par. 11).
He uses the power of rhetorical language in order to turn the title of an "extremist" into a positive attribute. He preaches, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love ?” (Cotton 100) In addition to Jesus, King references many historical and biblical characters from Abraham Lincoln to John Bunyan.who have been revered for their actions. King takes advantage of the power of ethos in order to support his beliefs.
Societal unrest in 1960’s United States revealed an alarming need for equality. In Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, King employs various rhetorical strategies such as anaphora, anecdotes, and the use of the appeals to demand the reader (the clergymen) the need for civil rights and the end of racial discrimination. King is able to convey these needs through a condemning but politeful tone that is admirable given the circumstance of being imprisoned for protesting against racial inequality. With the use of these strategies, King is able to provide a powerful letter that traverses the heart of the reader.
Segregationist, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” emphasizes the need for integration and racial equality. After reading text written by clergymen, King felt the responsibility to explain his cause. He adapts a diplomatic tone in order to convince society to integrate and end racial injustice. King begins his letter by introducing the reason for being in Birmingham.
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.
Fifty-two years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found himself surrounded by four walls in a Birmingham jail. Profoundly thinking about the rough road ahead for the civil right moment he was laying the groundwork for. If you could just put yourself in his shoes for a moment, perhaps you would understand why he had such a fiery passion for civil rights and also; understand how he felt. Imagine feeling terrified being incarcerated, pondering the unknown, thinking intensely of every single thought he writes to the clergymen defending the tactic of nonviolent resistance to racism. A competent individual would most likely feel afraid or anxious, hesitant, disgust, even madden after experiencing such a horrific and biased experience.
While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Several clergy who negatively critiqued King’s approach of seeking justice, wrote A Call for Unity, arguing that his protests were senseless and improper. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how King’s protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. His letter has become one of the most profound pieces of literature of the 20th century, as King uses vivid examples and eloquent rhetorical devices to counter all nine arguments.
