Letter from Birmingham Jail
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Mr. King uses many
rhetorical situations and persuasive appeals. King writes this letter, in my opinion, to the
audience of the American people. I feel the persuasive techniques, the structuring of the
sentence and the content expressed was intended to force the American white middle class’
eyes open to the blatant disregard of the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 - outlawing
segregation in public schools. A short minded assessment of the letter may conclude that the
letter was solely written as a response to a statement titled “A Call for Unity”, made by eight
white Alabama clergymen. Though his heartfelt vividly emotional accounts and the eloquent
semblance of rhetoric is addressed to “My Dear Fellow Clergymen”, it is my opinion he
composed the letter to be contemplated by a much larger audience. This paper will discuss the
rhetorical triangle used by King in the form of ethos (ethics), pathos (emotional content) and
logos (logic).
Let us consider the ethos or ethical form of communicating to ones audience. Ethos is
defined as “a rhetoric technique used to directly appeal to an authority in order to strengthen
your argument”. (Wikipedia.org ). This form of written or verbal communication is used with
the intention of showing the reader that the speaker or writer has moral character. King
uses ethos frequently in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The reference that struck me the
deepest was when King described the seemingly ethical use of written yet unjust laws by Adolph
Hitler. King writes, “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was
“legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal”. It was
“illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.” (King 4). This statement in Mr. King’s
letter serves to ask the eight clergymen to look into their own
rhetorical situations and persuasive appeals. King writes this letter, in my opinion, to the
audience of the American people. I feel the persuasive techniques, the structuring of the
sentence and the content expressed was intended to force the American white middle class’
eyes open to the blatant disregard of the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 - outlawing
segregation in public schools. A short minded assessment of the letter may conclude that the
letter was solely written as a response to a statement titled “A Call for Unity”, made by eight
white Alabama clergymen. Though his heartfelt vividly emotional accounts and the eloquent
semblance of rhetoric is addressed to “My Dear Fellow Clergymen”, it is my opinion he
composed the letter to be contemplated by a much larger audience. This paper will discuss the
rhetorical triangle used by King in the form of ethos (ethics), pathos (emotional content) and
logos (logic).
Let us consider the ethos or ethical form of communicating to ones audience. Ethos is
defined as “a rhetoric technique used to directly appeal to an authority in order to strengthen
your argument”. (Wikipedia.org ). This form of written or verbal communication is used with
the intention of showing the reader that the speaker or writer has moral character. King
uses ethos frequently in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The reference that struck me the
deepest was when King described the seemingly ethical use of written yet unjust laws by Adolph
Hitler. King writes, “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was
“legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal”. It was
“illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.” (King 4). This statement in Mr. King’s
letter serves to ask the eight clergymen to look into their own