A Profound Message from Jail Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed America with his non-violent campaigns during the civil rights movement. Although his campaigns consisted of morally legal protests, speeches, and marches, he was still sentenced to jail on multiple occasions due to unjust laws. In King's “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” he addresses the issues and injustices in Alabama with his responses to his fellow clergymen. King’s letter effectively uses Aristotle’s strategies of ethos (credibility), logos (logic), and pathos (emotions) to convince his readers that he is on the right side of these racial issues. King’s letter convinces his readers, in part, through the use of ethos. King’s credibility begins with his physical circumstances; he is in jail. One …show more content…
In addition, King had credibility because of his education. He held a Doctor of Divinity in Systematic Theology (Christian Studies) from Boston University. Therefore, his credentials should make fellow clergymen listen to his words. When he writes, “fellow clergyman and a Christian brother,” he includes the readers in his vision of America (King 173). King pushes his fellow leaders with his credible words. In another point to credibility, King quotes from the Holy Bible. He refers his readers to Paul’s letters from prison (King 166). Paul and King shared the experience of being imprisoned. Through his use of ethos, King makes his readers into believers. In addition to ethos, King employs logos to persuade his readers. In general, he appeals to the logic of utilizing peaceful civil protest rather than engaging in violent civil disobedience . He writes, “The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation” (King 167). King makes it seem like the next logical step is change. Direct action must be taken to invoke the change. King notes that in a “nonviolent campaign there are four basic
(Martin Luther King 6) Because of those conditions, the blacks tried negotiation first and instead, received promises of false hope. A reader understands King had to use logos to show why direct action happened, as negotiation wasn’t promising. If they continued to try to negotiation, they would be left with false hope. Furthermore, a reader could view that logo as an appeal to one’s emotion, which makes his statement stronger.
By using the description of personal events and being extremely open about his feelings, King is open in creating a sense of responsibility in the readers for not standing up and saying or doing something. His concrete examples aid in the pathos of the letter because they invoke feelings of liability in the readers.
In the letter, King has effectively used logos, pathos, and logos. He uses examples and facts in justifying his deeds, defines himself as the leader to gain trust, and promotes a friendly environment so that his ideas are understood clearly. Through the use of these tools, the letter comes out convincing and strong, and it can easily convince the audience to change their opinions and support his actions and cause.
The letter from Birmingham jail by Dr. Marin Luther King was written as a response of King to nine criticisms made against the Southern Christian leaders and King’s participation in demonstration in Birmingham. King handled many rhetorical devices to convince his opponents such as the white clergymen with his rights to protest, create tension for direct action and to achieve the racial justice. The devices fluctuate between Logos, Pathos and Ethos in a clever way to appeal to his audience and criticize them at the same time. King provided logical supports such as biblical figures, historical and philosophical references. In addition, he used verities of metaphors, allergy and poetic language. In my essay, I will point out some of the rhetorical devices and
During Martin Luther King Jr’s letter written for the call of social injustice, King utilizes juxtaposition and parallelism to also show the importance of nonviolent action in order to achieve that justice. King voices himself and his message in a very mannerly way. This enables the readers to view both sides of the disputation, and allows the audience to agree and see King’s position clearly. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted his readers to understand that the only thing worse than hate and opposition, is
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written to address the public criticism he and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference received from eight clergymen. In his letter, King shows off his fiery emotion throughout his letter. However, King does not force his beliefs upon his readers. Rather, he hopes that his readers will see his perspective on the situation through an emotional appeal. If the readers are able to recognize the injustice and inequality suffered by the African American community, perhaps they can. The fourteenth and fifteenth paragraphs were a true testament to his passion and ambition for equal rights.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of a peaceful movement to end segregation in the United States this mission led him in 1963 to Birmingham, Alabama where officials and leaders in the community actively fought against desegregation. While performing sit-ins, marches and other nonviolent protests, King was imprisoned by authorities for violating the strict segregation laws. While imprisoned King wrote a letter entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in which he expresses his disappointment in the clergy, officials, and people of Birmingham. This letter employed pathos to argue that the leaders and ‘heroes’ in Birmingham during the struggle were at fault or went against their beliefs.
King’s letter was influenced by “Apology”, The Bible, and The Tanakh, some of the most important pieces of philosophical literature in history. Socrates in “Apology” is known to be one of the founders of Western philosophy because he was successful in challenging and persuading his audience. And it is because of Socrates, the art of philosophy is so successful today. King used this source to justify disobedience and defend his reason for his actions as an advocate of desegregation. The Bible and The Tanakh were used as Christian references to justify the moral justification of his actions.
American Baptist, Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, justifies his response to the letter that the clergymen had sent him when he was in jail. King Jr.’s purpose was to make the clergymen change the system of the church by using pathos, logos, and ethos in order to meet the people’s needs. He adopts a persuasive tone in order to appeal to the clergymen to change how they deal with problems in society.
While strengthening his argument of changing segregation laws, King utilizes metaphors that appeal to the audience’s emotional views. To begin with, King states “the disease of segregation,” (207) which immediately places segregation in a negative perspective. A disease is something that harms someone, and segregation does harm people in many ways. For example, segregation creates the barrier between blacks and whites and creates injustice in the daily lives of African Americans, which leads to police brutality, lynching, etc. Nevertheless, just as most diseases can be cured, King implies that segregation can also be cured. However, just like there is a battle to find a cure, there is also a battle to change segregation laws before it spreads any further to newer generations. Another metaphor King writes is the “air tight cage of poverty” (207) while referring to the life African Americans live in. Through this metaphor, King argues how segregation ultimately places black people into a cage of poverty. Because segregation denies blacks of more successful opportunities, there is an airtight cage that African Americans cannot leave. The cage is
His argument did a great job of convincing me why the clergymen had flaws in their first statement and how to refute them well with different sort of argumentative tactics. King did a great job incorporating appeal to emotion, ethical appeal, appeal to reason and even use of language through word choice and metaphors into a strong argument.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous “A Letter from the Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963 while he was imprisoned in the Birmingham Jail for being involved in nonviolent protests against segregation. The letter is directed at eight white clergymen from Alabama who were very cynical and critical towards African Americans in one of their statements. Throughout the letter, King maintains an understanding yet persistent tone by arguing the points of the clergymen and providing answers to any counterarguments they may have. In the letter, King outlines the goals of his movement and says that he will fight racial inequality wherever it may be. Dr. King uses the appeal three main rhetorical devices – ethos, logos, and pathos – in order to firmly, yet politely, argue the clergymen on the injustices spoken of in their statement.
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
In Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, pathos, ethos, and logos are vividly expressed throughout it. All three rhetorical devices are vital to the meaning of the letter; the most influential being pathos. MLK takes advantage of the human body’s strong response to emotion. It is illustrated in his appeal to empathy, exercised mainly through gruesome depictions; his call for action to his peers, as shown when he expresses his disappointment in them as they preserve order over justice; and his strategic use of pathos as a supporting effort for both ethos and logos arguments.
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail) written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the three artistic appeals of Aristotle are plainly apparent, especially logos. Dr. King repeatedly appeals to logos (Ruszkiewicz) throughout the entire piece; particularly when he says he was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist then gradually gained a matter of satisfaction from the label. He is very impassioned in his language and tone in this part of the letter, yet still makes a strong argument for logic. Despite the overwhelming emotional and personal investment involved Dr. King still allows logic to prevail thus lending him a huge amount of credibility. As a member of the community being persecuted in this case, he might have had trouble remaining objective but clearly he doesn’t let his own pathos take center stage. All in all the use of logic and concise reasoning make a strong argument for the effectiveness of the letter in general.