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Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

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“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King was an interesting piece of writing. It was developed in response to a statement “A Call for Unity.” Within this statement, these eight Clergymen talked about the racial segregation that was going on, and how it should be handled by higher authorities than left into the hands of the people. However, Martin Luther King on the other hand expressed how inequality were shown everywhere. Therefore, he uses three rhetorical elements logos, pathos, and ethos within his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” as a guide to get his message through to the people. Moreover, King uses these three rhetorical elements to express the treatment African Americans faced, the unjust laws by using examples back in history to show that these laws were not right at all, and his reason as to why he is in Birmingham due to the racial inequality whites have shown towards negroes. King main idea of his letter is “Injustice anywhere will be a threat to justice everywhere.” (King 1) Therefore, King is using this letter as a way of saying we have to protest racism and injustice, but we cannot do it violently because then that will be considered unjust too. Martin Luther King uses a tone of righteousness to talk about the right versus the wrong and explaining why what he is doing is correct. So, he is also making an ethical appeal, meaning he is talking about ethics and showing that he is a credible person. King is a person of character with an

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