Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'

By addressing his opponents in a companionable way as “Fellow Clergymen” King sends the message that he is willing to have a serious civilized discussion. And the audience is persuaded to listen to their colleague. Just as a medical doctor is obligated to discuss the cure to an illness with another doctor. The eight clergymen feel compelled to listen to King because both share the same profession and love for God. Following the establishment of King’s authority, he proceeds to maintain and emphasize the religious references throughout his letter to assure his appeal among the clergymen.

While contained at Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an open letter encouraging and defending a nonviolent approach to dealing with racism. Martin Luther King Jr. being known as a public figure who has impacted the way America as a whole treats African-Americans. Having lived through a time when his rights, as well as every person of color didn’t match to their fellow Americans, he felt the need to advocate. The letter has been considered as one of the best argument pieces, persuading and convincing many, due to diction and usage of rhetorical strategies.

He was their voice. Throughout the “letter” Dr. King demonstrated pathos by engaging his readers of the struggle of being an African American descent. Dr. King starts off by letting his readers know that he was confined during the time of the letter was written and he was addressing the eight clergymen who called his action of a peaceful protest “untimely and unwise”. (King Jr., p. 645) However, he continues to explain his reason for being in Birmingham by saying that injustice was present and he could not just sit in another state and watch it;” Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I think all of this contributed to his well-deserved Man Booker Prize. Coetzee has proven how passionate he is about his writing and the use of the English language is genius and on a very educated level. The art of making all that misery and suffering sound beautiful and romantic is a skill well portrayed as well as his ability to leave you questioning your own values and the simplicity in life. Coetzee also shows his extreme intelligence and opens a deeper understanding of the English language by using words forgotten by most. The main characters journey is displayed from a lot of different perspectives.

There was not any room for patience, only for change. Another captivating speaker is reputable Martin Luther King whom enticed a mass public with influential persuasive language. The iconic “I Have a Dream Speech” delivered at the March on Washington—same march John Lewis presented his speech—utilized a somewhat different approach. King’s speech depicted the life that was yearned for by so many.

The Letter from Birmingham Jail and the I have a Dream Speech, both written by Martin Luther King Jr., explain the same message to people in two different ways. The Letter from Birmingham Jail was to write a letter to defend the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. He wrote this because he wants African Americans to come together and peacefully protest the unjust laws that are in place. On the other hand, his speech was to a large group of citizens, black and white, fighting for freedom, equality, justice and love. He used many rhetorical devices in his speech and letter that compared the two, and to show the differences in a clear way.

In the book, ‘The Death Cure’, by James Dashner there are an adequate amount of figures of speech which are pretty interesting. Figures of speech is a good strategy writers intelligently manipulate in order to keep interest and suspense. James Dashner mainly used hyberboleshyperboles, metaphors and personification since it lets the reader close their eyes and imagine them being in the book. Figures of speech helps the reader feel like they are understanding what the characters are experiencing. First off, Dashner used personification to let the reader experience the scene.

To justify his desire for racial justice and equality, he uses ethical, emotional and logical appeals. The purpose of the letter was to address one of the biggest issues Birmingham was facing at the time. He begins by stating his point in nonviolent protests and that it is a lawful act as blacks civil rights movement. He further explains his motives saying that it is time for black men to have the same rights as whites.

Martin Luther King Jr. used many rhetorical devices, but he mainly used vocabulary, which was a really great benefit because that made him look smarter which broke the stereotypes and that made people think more differently than before,

“‘As my sufferings mounted,’ Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, ‘I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force’” (Bromell, 2013, p.

Alexie’s major themes in his stories are big and tough to talk about but he uses wit to speak to all people. The problems that Alexie talks about can span from racial inequality to lack of options and opportunities in the Native American community. There are many reasons as to why an author would choose to use comedic aspects in his or hers writing. One major reason is it keeps the mood light, and even as the story/poem gets heavy, there is a lightness to it. Another reason is humor can often heal old wounds.

Malcolm X’s use of such radical ideas and solutions to the civil rights problems of his day, and MLK’s use of historical examples they captivate their audience and through logos and convince them of their views. Malcolm X completely shatters his listeners’ beliefs, using a roundabout form of rhetoric: he uses harsh language that seems to degrade his audience, while, at the same time, he increases their self-confidence subconsciously through their emotions and through logos builds in their minds the necessity to fight for equality. MLK uses analogies and enthymeme to relate to his audience the importance of equality in order to construct logos in the mind of his audience and convince them of the logic behind back equality. Through the use of appropriate elements of logos, MLK and Malcolm X appeal to logos to make an effective

Letter from Birmingham Jail The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr was a letter that he wrote to answer the statement to fellow clergymen for calling his activities “Unwise and untimely. First, he explained the reason why he was in the Birmingham; it was because he could not ignore the injustice problem there. The injustice anywhere was the reason for him become active in working for civil rights in Birmingham even though he did not claim permanent residence there.

I think this is a smart move. Instead of distancing himself from them or arguing with them, King choose to show that he is on the same side. It’s like saying “we have the same goal and are on the same side. It’s just we took different method.” Though the letter, King used all kinds of rhetoric methods to give more well-rounded argument.

2.4 Rhetorical Analysis In April of 1963, while incarcerated in Birmingham City jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an influential letter defending his anti-segregation protests. King had been arrested while participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march, although several local religious groups counted on King for support. Since King’s arrest, he had time to think deeply about the situation; therefore, he decides to reply back to the Alabama clergymen. Who had criticize Martin Luther King because he was simply doing something that was right and violence was not needed for King.