Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Direct action was the best way to go about the segregation issues in America during the civil rights movement. Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an international power. The use of pathos was very crucial in convincing people who read the message to change their ideals on segregation. Martin Luther King is writing a letter while in jail because of civil disobedience. Ethos was used on page 6 of letter from Birmingham jail “While confined here in the Birmingham city jail”. MLK chooses his words very carefully to use the most passion in his writing. His word choice of “confined” really shows how he feels being trapped in jail. MLK uses Logos very often in his

The Ethos definition is the convincing by a credible source. Martin Luther King used ethos on page 8 when he wrote “since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of the 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools.” MLK puts this in the letter because of many reasons. The first reason is because, it shows how even though there are laws not allowing schools to have segregation still do. Second, this shows that even though the Supreme Court says to do something the racist people still don’t obey those orders. This strengthens the civil disobedience argument because if law and order doesn’t work than the only other option that you have is to use civil disobedience. Olivia Wilde the actor even believes in civil disobedience. A counter claim to civil disobedience is “When you are being oppressed you have to expose the police and racist authority through law and order.” People who think this don’t know how messed up the laws are to where even if a colored person wanted to go to court their argument would automatically be shot down because of all the loop holes. When you constantly lose and don’t get anywhere with law and order what are you lead