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.
In letter to birmingham jail, despite the fact that ethos was utilized extremely well, we can trust pathos and logos are utilized most adequately with the representations of what African American confronted each day, cases in history in which the law was wrong, and the makeup of unfair laws. Dr. King depicts what they needed to look consistently and the psychological toll it took against African American families, which is a prime case of tenderness. Logos is demonstrated through recorded occasions were the law was not like it was in the Holocaust. Logos is additionally demonstrated when King depicts the contrasts between an equitable and vile law, for instance if a law benefits just a few society and damages the entire, it isn't a decent law.
In doing so, he writes about the horrible things that have occurred in Birmingham. For instance, the negro man was humuliated on a daily basis by being called “nigger” and denied the decency of being called by his name. In addition, Dr. King appeals to every parent in the nation by relating their children to the negro children.
Martin Luther King’s utilization of pathos and rhetorical questions in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” allows him to adequately advocate for civil rights for African Americans. MLK’s convincing use of pathos is shown in paragraph 23, where he wrote, “If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.” This quote was intended to make the white bishops who he was responding to feel guilty, as slavery was perpetrated by some of their ancestors. Furthermore, this quote shows the general enthusiasm of African Americans and affiliates to push for the repealing of unfair laws of segregation. This is shown by African Americans being able to persevere through slavery and that segregationist laws
Martin Luther King Jr wrote The letter from Birmingham Jail because the white clergymen through him and his pro black American organization in jail. They were demonstrating non-violent actions against racial justice and injustice of black Americans in Birmingham. Kings thesis was "Reasonable refutations of the white clergyman's criticism of his direct action – nonviolent resistance campaign was "unwise and untimely”. His reasonings are that direct action is the only way for a compromise when the white people fail to negotiate with him and his group.
In King’s letter from Birmingham, he concludes his 50 paragraph letter by using specific rhetorical strategies in order to connect himself to the clergymen to whom he writes by shifting his tone from the disturbed and excited writing in the rest of the letter to one that is calm and composed toward his current situation in jail, and also by using more positive imagery and language. His attitude immediately changes in these closing three paragraphs in an attempt to assure the clergymen that he is reasonable in all his assertions, even asking for forgiveness for any over- or understated claims, apologizing for ever straying from the path of truth and patience, and he also asks “God to forgive [him]” (para. 49). After this last sentence of paragraph
The two main purposes of writing the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" were to respond to the criticism of the moderate white clergy who opposed the nonviolent direct action and to defend the strategy of nonviolent resistance as the most powerful weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. In the letter, Martin Luther King Jr. uses various strategies to convey his ideas effectively. One of the strategies is the use of ethos. He establishes himself as a credible and knowledgeable authority on issues of race, religion, and justice.
In Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” King responds to the criticisms written by a group of clergymen about the work that he and his followers (the oppressed black people, members of the SCLC, and a select few of white supporters) are pursuing in Birmingham. Although King directly addresses his fellow clergymen, he expresses deep disappointment in the white churches and moderates of the south as well. Throughout the letter the audience can read how the actions committed against black people by religious and nonreligious white moderates alike causes for injustice to take place in falsely depicted ‘just’ ways. King explains the flaw of how those who fight against him are not solely fighting against their own brothers and
In Letter from Birmingham Jail, paragraph 13, King uses the metaphor “disease of segregation”. He writes, “Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation” (13). He uses this metaphor in order to compare the treatment of African Americans in the 1960’s, to a disease. King’s diction is effective because the word “disease” carries numerous negative connotations. He manages to compare segregation to that of a disease; deadly, evil, and dysfunctional.
The writer, Martin Luther King Jr., was a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was in favor to equality. Moreover, he believed in nonviolence protest to obtain discrimination in America. On April 16, 1963, when King was in jail, he wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to justify his actions and to response the eight clergymen who called him “unwise, untimely and extreme” in the article, “A Call for Unity.” In his letter, he declares that he is in Birmingham because there is injustice. King’s appeal to pathos and his use of evidence combine to create an argument that achieves its purpose of providing that his nonviolence actions are just, and that the laws are unjust.
“Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious (well-known) reality. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than any city in this nation. These are the hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts.” Unfortunately, Martin Luther King Jr. was right. Burning of houses and churches were the “hard, brutal, and unbelievable facts” of that time, a time known as the Civil Rights Era.
We should not only ignore the racism that has been in our society, but look deeper into what the meaning and outcome of the letter has been invented. People who view the letter as disturbing may look at it from this viewpoint, but they need to look closer at the whole image in order to understand those who were affected. According to the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King states, “when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters…speech stuttering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park.” This can be very hard for some readers to process, but we as readers need to look further into the message and see why the Civil Rights movement occurred and what people went through in order to make this happen. If the reader is unsure and feels like this letter is not appropriate, they should see what the positive outcome of the letter was and what people did to make their freedom possible.
Every person is supposed to have equal rights and opportunities, since every citizen is born equal. Sadly, however, before the Civil Rights Movement, that wasn’t true. Any African American living in the United States was treated far worse than how they were supposed to be treated. They were disrespected, denied rights, and their freedom to go places were commonly restricted by signs that said; “Whites only,” or “No colored people allowed”. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a major activist in The Civil Rights Movement, and he was thrown in jail many times for his nonviolent protests.
He was their voice. Throughout the “letter” Dr. King demonstrated pathos by engaging his readers of the struggle of being an African American descent. Dr. King starts off by letting his readers know that he was confined during the time of the letter was written and he was addressing the eight clergymen who called his action of a peaceful protest “untimely and unwise”. (King Jr., p. 645) However, he continues to explain his reason for being in Birmingham by saying that injustice was present and he could not just sit in another state and watch it;” Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. Persuasion within writing is an important tool to be utilized in order to garner support for one’s position. During the 1960s, equality between different races was a very controversial issue which required a certain finesse when being discussed. Martin Luther King demonstrated precisely this sort of finesse when writing about the racial injustices faced by black Americans, as well as when refuting the criticisms he faced from white clergymen.
