For Justice and For Freedom of All MLK is one of the many well known to us, he is celebrated on MLK day, loved, respected, accomplished, committed to his cause, and is the man who made coed black woman and children, and white men and children exist today. In 1968 MLK was imprisoned in a Birmingham Jail and in his letter. He used many rhetorical devices to get his point across. He will defend his actions and criticize white citizen’s inactions in order to establish his legitimacy as a civil rights leader. One of the many rhetorical devices that MLK used is his choice of words. Which is diction and as well as Ethos. Ethos is ethics. Ethos is also the ability to establish credibility. MLK was more than qualified to speak of what he …show more content…
For example, King used metaphors, similes, first person and second person. King goes on and on using vast rhetorical devices. If read out loud and presented on the screen, as it was being read out. You would see for yourself. The many colors will be revealed of all the devices used. In his letter he writes, “An unjust law is no law at all”. He provided a simile.A law is to enforce justice the “right way”. If a law is unjust to begin with, it is not a law just like he had said. An example of first and second person is when he used,” I hope, Sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience”. Another,” I come across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise” and “untimely”. King derived all his points, and went further and further to justify his purpose with an outstanding amount of rhetorical devices, Martin Luther King Junior was a great man who once lived. His imagery was descriptive. His language was used well conceived. His purpose consistently thrived and his subject was well made. With the use of well developed rhetorical devices. MLK successful explained and supported his actions . In his letter he justly defends his strategies of nonviolent resistance to
MLK’s use of pathos and repetition is an effective way to persuade his audience about his position on civil disobedience. In King’s speech he says, “Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country” (King Page 6). This evidence, revealing MLK’s use of pathos, was used to reach out to the emotional citizens who have either experienced or watched police brutality. The use of pathos is effective because it appeals to emotions and the issue of civil rights and civil disobedience. Civil rights is an emotional subject for those who were affected by it, and MLK is proving his argument on civil disobedience.
Martin Luther King, Jr. uses ethos to appeal to his audience. MLK stated he would have not allowed a person to go without or let someone suffer. MLK states, “Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.” (p. 4)
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter from jail, after he got arrested during a peaceful protest. At the time segregation was still a part of the culture in the United States and Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were working diligently and peacefully to try and make a change in people’s hearts about segregation. In this letter MLK Jr. is writing to defend his strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, which he does effectively by using rhetoric. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference focused on Birmingham, Alabama to start a nonviolent direct action campaign with the goal to get the city to get rid of segregation laws.
In “A Letter From A Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. He uses ethos to build up credibility.
Upon being imprisoned for marching Dr Martin Luther King wrote a letter to the fellow clergymen of Birmingham, addressing his reasons as to why he committed his “crime”, This letter was widely known as “The Letter of Birmingham”. This letter was very influential and paramount to the cause of civil rights as it spurred up future events that would play essential roles in ending racial segregation in America. Throughout his whole letter, King used Ethos, logos, and pathos to firmly get his message across while adding rhetorical devices such as repetition, metaphors, and biblical references.
In a “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. uses rhetorical devices. For example, MLK uses repetition in his letter. In paragraph 31, he repeats the word “extremists” several times to redefine the word so it's less negative. MLK also uses an analogy in his letter, by comparing himself to the Apostle Paul.
Martin Luther King used persuasive speech to get his points across. Throughout his letter, he presented an issue, restating opposers’ points of view and the value it holds, ending with a suggestion which appeals to all sides of the issue. He also countered these criticisms with honesty and equity,
In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from his jail cell in Birmingham after he was imprisoned during a march for civil rights. This letter was in response to one written by church leaders in Birmingham condemning the actions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his compatriots. They felt the march was “unwise and untimely” and expressed a belief that the problems he was protesting were better fought through the court system. Overall, Dr. King spoke about the necessity and process of non- violent direct action, just and unjust laws, and of his disappointment in the actions of the white moderate. He argued with the words and logic of a well-educated gentlemen to counteract the church’s argument which appealed to white moderates.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.
Lastly he shows ethos by using authority in his speech by using quotes from two very famous documents. Pathos is the persuasion through emotion, it is the psychological response, but mainly it is the audience. In Martin Luther King’s speech, he uses and
Dr. King also included definitions and examples of unjust and just laws, and how they are not right. He included an example of these “laws” by talking about the things Adolf Hitler did was allowed but supposedly helping someone was not allowed. He writes and uses the letter to show the white Americans that are unaware of what is happening around them. Even, though Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is best remembered for his powerful voice and pathos in this letter is a thoughtful logical argument. Rhetorical Situations: Writer:
Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong leader in the Civil Rights movement, the son and grandson of a minister, and one heck of a letter writer. As he sits in a cell of Birmingham Jail in 1963, he responds to criticism from eight white clergymen. Though this letter was intended for the judgemental and condescending men of high faith, his response touched the hearts and minds of the entire U.S. population, then, and for years to come. In his tear-jerking, mind-opening letter, King manages to completely discredit every claim made by the clergymen while keeping a polite and formal tone. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims.
The famous Martin Luther king’s letter, The wise Martin Luther king wrote this letter to not only persuade but to make a change on the rising problem which you will read in, '' Letter from Birmingham Jail ''. This famous and informative yet persuading letter touches bases on the problems that surround us, whether physically or verbally. Martin Luther king thought enough was enough and that we should take a stand. He tells us this by using lots of ways to persuade his readers by the act of using metaphors. He uses similes to give us an example of what he means.
Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. Persuasion within writing is an important tool to be utilized in order to garner support for one’s position. During the 1960s, equality between different races was a very controversial issue which required a certain finesse when being discussed. Martin Luther King demonstrated precisely this sort of finesse when writing about the racial injustices faced by black Americans, as well as when refuting the criticisms he faced from white clergymen.