Rhetorical Devices Used In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was placed in Birmingham Jail in the 1960’s. During his time there, King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” after an open letter that was given to the public saying that the fellow clergymen were criticizing and saying that his present activities were “unwise and untimely.” King answers these charges in a careful crafted analysis by stating the opposing argument, and then contrasting it with his own argument. Henry David Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience” it exposes the mind to the idea of prioritizing laws. Refusing to obey the laws and demands of government, it criticizes the American institution of government at the time and is also defined as a text to live by. Thoreau uses rhetorical strategies to establish

Thoreau starts by using parallel structure in the beginning of his essay. For instance, Thoreau starts by writing “I heartily accept the motto,-“That government is best which governs least;”and then clarifies that his true belief is “That government is best which governs not at all.” (Thoreau 224). Thoreau states that government is nothing but an imaginary idea that people choose to live by, yet this imaginary thing we call government is easy to manipulate, that one person can easily bid the government to do their will. While we believe that government is made to serve the people in which it governs, it is mainly used as a source to gain power. Thoreau gives examples of slavery practice and the Mexican-American war to establish his point further. He asserts that the government itself becomes an obstacle between achieving its purpose, the purpose for which it was created. However, Thoreau makes it clear that he is against abolishing the government,

For instance, King describes his disappointment in the church, “The judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.”(King 234). Through pathos, King conveys a sense of urgency to the audience by suggesting that the once almighty Church could falter without changes in behavior by people. Additionally, the phrase “judgment of God” is associated with fear of the power of God, causing the audience to feel fearful and to feel a need to change in order to avoid God’s wrath. In addition, King also writes “an irrelevant social club,” King is disrespecting the Church to imply his point and to demonstrate the future of the church if none is going to take action. Calling it “an irrelevant social club” can leave the clergymen and other readers angry, forcing the clergymen to realize that id they are irritated by a rude reference, and then they will have to take action to prevent the