Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Letter from Birmingham Jail is a letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr. while he was in jail for participating in peaceful protest against segregation. He wrote the letter in response to criticisms made by white clergymen. Dr. King’s goal of this letter was to draw attention to the injustice of segregation, and to defend his tactics for achieving justice. He uses a large number of rhetorical devices in his letter to reach his goal, including point of view, imagery, and rhetorical questions. He uses these rhetorical techniques along with a logical argument to demonstrate why his methods were right. The point of view Dr. King uses is first person. He is speaking from a personal view of injustice. Using first person allows Dr. King to introduce himself through words and gives the reader an idea of his character and beliefs. He introduces himself by telling the reader that he is “in Birmingham because injustice is [there]” and that he is
King takes his argument a step further by using imagery to describe the harsh realities endured by black men and women at this time. He challenges readers to imagine seeing “vicious mobs lynch [their] mothers and fathers” and “drown [their] sisters.” He describes how the police would “curse, kick, brutalize and even kill [his] black brothers and sisters” (King 381). By causing the reader to visualize these horrors, King’s use of imagery puts the reader in his shoes and allows them to consider what it would be like to experience these horrors for themselves. He describes a little girl being told she cannot attend a public amusement park because she is black and talks about the “tears welling up in her little eyes” and “depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky” (King 381-382). He is able to express to the reader what these hardships are really like from his perspective. This way, it is easier for the readers to relate to what King is going through by considering if they were going through