Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Jail

Throughout the text, King utilized the values of his audience to gain sympathy and later on support. His use of diction and syntax would align his mission to God’s, and show that he was in the right and the clergymen were in the wrong. In his letter, King effectively used an extended periodic sentence that consisted of more than 300 words. The sentence has an extreme appeal to pathos, with such vivid imagery

King uses many forms of rhetorical devices in his letter in order to effectively make impacts on his audience. In his counterargument against the praises towards the Birmingham police force, King brings new lights of the police force to the public eye. He uses parallelism to target his audience and change the public opinion on the police force “I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes ... if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together”(King 561-570). King counter the praises that states the police kept “order” for the public and prevented any violence to take place,

Martin Luther King Jr. was able to transmit the oppression of African American from a jail cell through the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. With more than 6500 words, Martin Luther King Jr. touched the subject of segregation and injustice of the African American. One cluster that stood out the most was cluster 30, where King was able to explain why the African American was forced to express their birth given right of freedom after endless promises of justice during the Civil Rights Movement. Through the use of Logos, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to connect with the reader by using logic to convince his audience and quoting passages from Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Prophet Amos. Furthermore, by the use of pathos Dr. King was

Picture this. On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, protester against inequality, Martin Luther King Jr., was arrested for parading without a permit. It is now April 16, 1963 and he sits alone in a Birmingham City Jail cell with nothing but a pen, some paper, and a solemn look on his face. In scraggly, but intent words, he writes a letter. He was writing to the church clergymen, determined to make them change their ways.

The first several sentences of paragraph 38 are vivid description. King uses many adjectives to write these sentences. He mentions how beautiful the church is and some other minor details. Such vivid description indicates King’s love to the church. And the love is exactly the reason makes King even more disappointed when the church did nothing to help the blacks.

In Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King writes to the clergymen to defend his nonviolent actions. He goes on to show that his actions are justified and that it's time to move forward from all the injustices toward African-American people just because of the colors of their skin. Dr.King defends his peaceful protests and stated that they can no longer wait, and that is not right that clergymen think they should wait, when they have not been in the position and have felt the discrimination. Dr. King uses emotional, ethical and, logical appeal to convince the clergymen that his actions are wise and justified. Dr. King uses emotional appeal, to try to persuade the clergymen that he is not an extremist as it is being said he is.

First of all, King used anologies to make his point. The clergymen call him an extremist, but he lists many respected people to counteract that comment. Like God “The others Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth, and goddess and thereby, rose above his environment.” King includes this piece since the Clergymen are very religious people and they, too, follow God t .

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., stands up against the racial inequalities that plague not just the state of Alabama but the United States as a whole at the time. He claims the solution to racial inequality and the next step in furthing the civil rights movement is through nonviolent action. King’s passionate tone creates a sense of pride and confidence in his cause; as well as his use of ethos, logos, and pathos give the letter a sense of structure and unity. The purpose of Martin Luther King Jr. writing “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was to address the article published by eight local clergymen “A Call for Unity”.

Really what is the difference between “I have a dream” and His famous “Letter Birmingham Jail”?The “I Have a Dream” speech spoken and written by The MLK Jr. himself to be read in front of a quarter of a million justice hungary both Black and White in front of the Lincoln Memorial in the largest racial justice demonstration in U.S history. On the other hand the letter from Birmingham jail written to try and explain himself to a group of 8 white clergymen. Written in a small cell in the tiny margins of a newspaper. I believe the difference is whilst in the speech he was trying to rouse the emotions of a quarter million people and lift their heavy hearts in his letter he is calmly trying to explain his beliefs to a group of what he believes is intelligent capable men.

King’s purpose for using rhetoric is that the world needs change and needs to improve for equality. Claims that a lot of people have faith in the movement like a 72 year old who said one of the most powerful quotes in the letter, “my feet is tired, but my soul is rested.” (King 182). Another powerful quote stated in the letter is, “If I have said anything that is an overstatement of the truth and is indicative of an unreasonable impatience, I beg for forgiveness.” (King 182).

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.

Racism in America has been around for centuries however it was in the 1960's that the attitudes of many Black Americans started to quickly change and they realized they wanted equality. Out of this, The Civil Rights Movement emerged which was a peaceful social movement that strove for equal human rights for black Americans. The leader of the Civil Rights Movement is no one other than Martin Luther King Jr. In his book, Why We Can't Wait, King tries to convince Black Americans to realize their reality, remember their roots and important and mainly, to seek changes to social conditions and attitudes.

On page 285 King says, “Supreme Court 's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws” King’s allusion reinforces the facts of his argument by directing the critical event of the decision made in 1954. It shows that the decisions that are being made are not helping the problem that Birmingham has, it is only making the segregation problems worse. It’s efficient because it shows that the courts have been making laws that are what the called just but, in reality, they are anything, but just they are unjust laws that shouldn’t be

Ty’ Keylah White Ms. Edwina Mosby English Composition I October 31, 2017 Rhetorical Analysis: Letter from Birmingham Jail Summary/Assessment: In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is responding to a few white religious leaders who stated that his nonviolent reveal against segregation was “unwise and untimely” (1). Dr. King had to be really upset at the clergymen because he rarely acknowledges criticism of his work. He states that since they brought up “outsiders coming in”, meaning that they went to the city of Birmingham to start a conflict.

This reference in particular evokes the strongest emotional response from black people because many African Americans revered Lincoln for his decision to sign the revolutionary Emancipation Proclamation, and how the document symbolized a free future for slaves--the ancestors of the blacks in the crowd. But the next few lines following this allusion also persuades those ignorant of how little things have changed by highlighting the “manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” that blacks still suffer from despite the hundred year gap. Here, he uses the connotations of “manacles” and “chains” to evoke a negative emotional response from the audience, especially from those unaware of the need to change, causing their opinion to match the speaker’s: against segregation. Additionally, King weaves biblical allusions into his speech to appeal to the Christians within the crowd. He uses the “dark and desolate valley of segregation” to illustrate the injustice African Americans have endured for centuries and juxtapositions it with the “sunlit path of racial justice” to exemplify a future where true freedom exists for