Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail was written on April 16, 1963 while he was incarcerated in the Birmingham City Jail. This letter addresses the criticism that a group of white men had thrown at him and his pro-black American organization about their non-violent actions against racial discrimination and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham. He notes that he doesn’t usually respond to letters of criticism but he thought that they were “good willed people and their criticism was sincerely set forth.” King writes this letter to defend his organization's actions. King's letter talks about…
Dr. King was able to inspire people to take action by providing a strong voice for the people he desired to help. Dr. King was able to give motivational and charismatic speeches to a mass number of people who were tired of being mistreated. As a result of his speeches, the morale and confidence of the African American community was boosted. This influenced many who were sick of the mistreatment they were putting up with and drove them to action while exercising the wise ways of peaceful protest that Dr. King directed them to follow.…
King’s use of rhetorical tools helps him convince the clergymen to take a second look at how African Americans are being treated. King utilizes emotive language to target his audience’s emotions. For example, he states, “if you would watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro” (3). He then goes on to give more examples, including, “I don’t believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry and violent dogs literally biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes” (3). These help achieve his purpose because they are specific examples that make the clergymen feel guilty. Next, King utilizes questioning to make the clergymen reevaluate what they are doing. He says, “In this sense they have been rather publicly ‘nonviolent.’ But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation” (4).…
Martin Luther King Jr. protest movements were considered “extreme”, but he refuted those accusations in many ways.…
Civil Rights advocate, Martin Luther King Jr., in his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, discusses the cruelty and unjust consequences black people endure while acknowledging the inequity of their undying patience in chapter fourteen. King’s purpose is to address the atrocious situations that African Americans undergo in order to establish a strong argument while defending the importance of civil rights. King creates a different perspective for the clergymen. In addition, King adopts a skeptical and serious tone as he emphasizes the how distressing the unkind acts towards the blacks are in reality, allowing the clergymen to understand the ongoing problem.…
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. uses rhetoric to persuade readers into supporting his cause. His letter addresses white men questioning his actions, though his message is for gaining supporters throughout America. Addressing the criticism of white men questioning and criticizing his recent behaviors, he begins explaining the motives behind his actions, their justification, and his next endeavors to rid America of its social injustices.…
He does so by responding to the letter of the clergymen who said that he was untimely, extreme and had no business being in Birmingham. King developed an effective argument by using many rhetorical devices such as logos, ethos, pathos, metaphors and anaphors. The arguments King makes in the Letter and the use of these rhetorical devices are effective because it allows the audience to see King in a different way than before. For example his use of ethos and logos shows the audience that King is a bright and intelligent man who knows a lot about human rights and justice. By his use of constant examples and comparisons with famous historical figures I could infer that he knew what he was doing. His use of anaphora and pathos allowed me to personally feel connected to his subject and I felt genuinely bad for his cause and what he went through day to day. I believe that Kings use of logos, ethos and pathos made his argument very persuading. I feel that if I use these forms of arguments when I am defending a topic I could easily change someone’s mind about it. Building up my credibility and allowing people to feel emotionally connected to a situation is an easy way to pursued people that I am right. King does this in his letter to explain to people why his actions are justified and not “unwise and…
Genre is the framework that the academic writing will be based on, and it is similar to a format where things can be expected to be appear at a certain point in writing. Genre is often determined by the rhetorical situation and can be change to increase the readability and complexity of an academic writing. Audience is part of a big rhetorical situation because rhetorical situation consists of many other factors like constraints, issue. Audience can changes the languages of the paper to adapt to the selected group of people. With restricted audience can sometimes affect the effectiveness of the paper. Rhetorical situation will the most important term to explain because it is the deciding factor for both genre and audience. Rhetorical situation is a situation where it demands a response according to Lloyd Bitzer.…
In one of those arguments, King has a long paragraph devoted to giving descriptions of the harsh lives of African-Americans during the past 340 years. King says "that when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait" (¶14). In this quotation taken from among many other examples in the paragraph, King shows how African-Americans live their lives in the United States under racial prejudice and violence. Through this paragraph, the reader can actually feel the violence that is being carried out against African-Americans. As I read the paragraph, I was extremely saddened by the horrific violence of lynching and the effects of segregation. Here the intention of the appeal is carried out because the readers sympathize with African-Americans, and many times one's emotions have a stronger effect in influencing one's actions more than logic and reasoning. Thus, the pathos appeal is very persuasive in King's argument and proves to be very effective in the…
address the criticism of the white clergymen by claiming that the path to brotherhood is nonviolent direct action. He developed this statement by claiming that, “Unjust laws are now laws at all,” “‘Wait’ have almost means ‘no’” and, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.” Throughout the story, King uses many rhetorical devices to help develop and refine his…
Martin luther king jr speech was inspirational to many people and lots of people thx him for what he did and his bravery. He said that all race should be treated the same. “ There are those who are still asking the devotees for civil rights”. I have a dream that one day the nation will rise up and live out the truth. I have a dream that one day everybody and every mankind will be treated equally.…
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…
When encountering injustice and treated less than a human being, it is not difficult for one to speak out against an issue and voice one's mind. Though two different authors writing on different issues both were compelling and perplexing. Dr. King is fed up with not being treated equal, where Thoreau is tired of flaws in American government. Dr. King's letter discusses many tragedies that the black generations have gone through and hopes that things can change. Thoreau's essay exposes flaws in American government…
King incorporates a myriad of stylist device that shape and develop the purpose of the passage. Through the periodic use of rhetorical questions such as “why does misery constantly haunt the Negro?” King…
With the use of logos appeal, Martin Luther King Jr. logically proves each point he makes objectively and uses indisputable evidence to support his statements. Dr. King went to great lengths to educate his people in the benefit of non-violent aggression. He chose to respond to hard and brutal acts with non-violent resistance. In his letter, he tries to support the fact that they had no alternative except to prepare for direct action. However, Martin Luther King, Jr. has several logical examples of evidence to prove his point. He states, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps…