Rhetorical Devices In Letter From Birmingham Jail

The “Letter from Birmingham” has many quality to it, and each serves a purpose to convince the audience. The purpose of the letter was to respond to fellow clergyman of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, they wrote an article “A Call for Unity” in the newspaper that questioned King’s methods of protest. In King’s response he was very detailed and clear onto why the opinions of the clergyman were incorrect and no logical. Throughout the letter there are rhetorical devices used that helped better king’s argument. He uses ethos to reach the audience from his own personal experience, pathos to have an emotional connection, and logos for logic or evidence from creditable sources.

In the beginning of Dr. King’s letter he explains that he has come to

Stasis which is the point in a story where it is still not much is going on that connects to the main focus of it. In this reading it would have to be the time when Dr. King was in jails writing this letter response. Not much was happening due to that fact many people who were apart of the direct action were in jail alongside kind. Now Kairos is the peak in the story when change happens, the most noticeable change is when the direct action plan is implemented. Specifically it is a change because it is only that after it the clergyman made a statement on Dr. King’s

Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham”, is such a powerful document because of how each part of it is meticulously worded. From the start of the letter he makes an emotional connection to the reader, which is smart because that gives the reader a slight personal feel to what’s being talked about. Then there are the areas that states facts a specific evidence with respectable sources, this looks to attract the attention of realist. Last, there are his personal experience that readers respect, because when people discuss topic they have experience there is a more genuine care for it. King made this letter able to affect many people who have different mind sets. At the end of the letter he states “I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of you, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” Dr. King last words were of much respect and hoping that the differences of each could end and become