Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., he writes to defend himselfagainst the clergymen’s accusations in which he explains his motive on his civil rightsdemonstrations and strives to justify the desperate needs for nonviolent action in the CivilRights Movement. His primary audience throughout the letter was to the religious leaders as hewas responding to an open letter for criticism, whereas the secondary audiences are whitemoderates and the religious population. Dr King’s letter addresses that the white attitudestowards African Americans and the Civil Rights Movements in the 1960s were hostile as theywere unable to accept the movement, especially in the South. Throughout the letter, he usesvarious literary and rhetorical

He states that “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” (379). in this quote Martin Luther King shows he has no plans to use violence in his civil rights movement. Instead he has a respectful view to handle the situation that is at hand. “it is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the negro community with no alternative.”

In Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. King writes to the clergymen to defend his nonviolent actions. He goes on to show that his actions are justified and that it's time to move forward from all the injustices toward African-American people just because of the colors of their skin. Dr.King defends his peaceful protests and stated that they can no longer wait, and that is not right that clergymen think they should wait, when they have not been in the position and have felt the discrimination. Dr. King uses emotional, ethical and, logical appeal to convince the clergymen that his actions are wise and justified. Dr. King uses emotional appeal, to try to persuade the clergymen that he is not an extremist as it is being said he is.

“You speak of our activity in Birmingham as extreme. At first I was rather disappointed that fellow clergymen would see my nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist. ”-Martian Luther King Letter from Birmingham Jail. MLK uses the Pathos of abandonment to address those who have been abandoned by those they trust by using language that confronts the clergymen.

In A letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King Jr writes to the clergy men and his supporters as “A Call for Unity”. King had been put under arrest from partaking in a peaceful march against segregation on property that he did not have permission to be marching on. In the 1960’s segregation laws and policies were under the Jim Crow regulations; separate racial schools, colored-only bathrooms, separate places for the colored to eat and they would have to sit in the back of the bus. The letter King wrote was critical because he reaches out to the Clergymen from Birmingham Prison and uses the rhetorical appeal of his own character to establish his credibility on the subject of racial discrimination and injustice.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were both civil rights activist during the civil rights movement. Both activists gave speeches to large audiences and became very well known across the country. Both activists believed that they should have a program that will teach their philosophies. Although they both wanted to have programs teaching their beliefs, the beliefs they wanted to teach were different. Martin Luther King Jr.’s program would be focused on teaching people how to nonviolently campaign, while Malcolm X’s program would be focused on educating people how the government was working, or rather not working, during this time of civil injustice.

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.

With the help of these four steps, he justifies the need for the demonstration. King illustrates the city of Birmingham as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States,” (King 2). Here King is able to show that injustices are present in Birmingham, which further justifies his reason for a peaceful demonstration. King proceeds to speak about his method of protesting. He states that negotiation was not met, and that “[their] hopes had been blasted,” that like “victims of a broken promise,” their wishes had been disregarded, (King 2).

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.

Essay #2: Argumentative Analysis Martin Luther King Jr. introduced a very controversial argument about why he believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(264). In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King stated that justice is never given by the oppressor and the reason why his protests were very relevant and wise was because the issues needed to be addressed right then and not later. Moving along throughout his entire letter his primary thesis seemed to be that if the people wanted to be free from racial injustice they needed to participate in nonviolent protests. Given his setting and atmosphere, MLK did an extremely impressive job of using kairos and other rhetorical techniques in his piece.

In this quote, Martin Luther stated that his critics disagreed with his decision to hold demonstrations in Birmingham but managed to weaken these claims by exposing the hypocrisy within them. He does this numerous times within the letter, using a persuasive structure to dismantle the opposition’s arguments. Throughout the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King also used metaphors and comparisons to bring attention to

He explained why the protesters were civilly infringing racist laws and city ordinances; why the protesters had truth and justice; and how he was thwarted with the clergyman and white moderates in the South who said they supported his cause. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. King incorporates biblical and historical allusions to give him credibility with his target audience, the clergymen. Additionally, Dr. King subtly asks rhetorical questions and makes logical conclusions to force his audience to consider his strategy of nonviolent resistance to cease racism and oppression. Throughout his piece, Dr. King uses many strong connections to biblical theologians and philosophers that strengthen his appeal and credibility.

Summary of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. writes about the issue of waiting for justice and God given rights for African Americans, the need for a good faith negotiation quickly, and using the strategy of a non-violent campaign and protest to achieve it all. His initial reasoning for writing these letters was to answer the sincere criticism he had received from a fellow clergymen in hopes to bring about a negotiation of peace. Dr. King hoped to shed light on the reasoning be hide the protesting and explain why the protesting needed to take place and at such an “untimely” time. He also yearned to shed light on the racism that had engulfed the nation and the ugly record of brutality that African Americans had suffered in the past and at that moment currently.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. developed his argument through his speech. He has set an speech out to everyone, so everyone can be /or will be treated equally, fairly. Martin Luther King to contribute a great deal to the success of the civil rights movement. He wanted his idea to come true, so he did everything he could do for it to happen. As to him proving his point to make people believe or go with his idea.

Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners’ to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. He does an exceptional job using both these appeals throughout his speeches by backing up his emotional appeals with logical ones. Using emotional appeals captures an audience's attention and makes them think about what the narrator is saying. Emotional appeal uses intense words and charged language to grab listeners to get them to keep listening. On the other hand, logical appeals helps to grasp the concept better and provides facts that prove it to be true.