Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

Dr. King’s Writings
Dr. King has delivered two masterpieces of work that have many similarities and differences. He wrote the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” along with his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech. Both writings focus the topic of segregation and are meant to be persuasive. To accomplish this, rhetorical devices are used in both such as charged language and allusion. Charged language is usually used when things are meant to be felt deep inside. This rhetorical device stirs up emotions inside the readers. On the other hand, allusion is used to give the readers some real sense into what’s happening. When using allusion, usually the readers get a sense of logic. This being said, I definitely think these two pieces of writing compare in this aspect. In my opinion, the speech was more emotional, in other words, pathos. In this piece, he wants to show people how unfair blacks are being treated and tries to prove to the world that they should be treated equally. In comparison, Dr. King’s letter was more logos, logical towards the reader. In his letter, Dr. King wants to prove how badly blacks are treated and talks about how everyone should agree that people of color should have rights. He also makes a

King’s speech that stuck out to me. Dr. King choose to use charged language while speaking very often. For example, “ one hundred years later, the Negro live on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity”. This part of his speech reached out to many Negros since they could relate to “living on a lonely island of poverty”. It hits them emotionally and deep inside. Another piece of Dr’s speech that supports pathos rather than logos, is when he says “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning…”. This rhetorical device called repetition, supports Dr. King’s main idea that people of color like himself, should be treated equally and all blacks would