Rhetorical Devices Used In Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," in response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight religious leaders of the South. The statement "A Call For Unity", implored Dr. King and his "outsiders" to obey the law and wait for integration to naturally come out of the courts. King responded with his Letter from Birmingham Jail, voicing his disappointment in the white clergy, who should be "among our strongest allies". This was the persuasive power of King’s writing, an epitome of the art of rhetoric. His letter used the three rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos, and logos, while also utilizing the literary device of kairos in an attempt to explain his actions and change the opinions of his audience.

He sets up his argument by saying that there are specific steps to take during a nonviolent campaign. He then elaborates on what he did to accomplish these steps. He justified his actions by saying, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such a creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”(266). He also refuted how the clergymen told him his actions were untimely by stating that, “This “wait” has almost always meant “never””(267). He even discredits the clergymen even more by saying “it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait.” MLK’s ultimate claim is that the church is to blame for these happenings and “the judgement of God is upon the Church as never before”(276).

He turns a trite non-fiction story of robbery gone wrong into a narrative-style exposition by making his attitude towards the subject evident throughout. He does so by using descriptive details, for example, to create images of the depth of the characters in the reader 's mind. Additionally, through his clever use of words, Capote expresses his feelings of sympathy for Perry and his bitter distaste for Perry 's punishment which Dick essentially led him into. Aside from his word use, the way the author structures his sentences to transmit his attitude towards the events of Holcomb, Kansas and the people involved. He then takes this further by applying a specific structure to the whole book, including certain events out of order to support his tone throughout.

Sinners vs. Constitution “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and the Iroquois Constitution are two works of art. The first of the two pieces is a dark and horrifying sermon that is intended to scare the Puritans in to being righteous. The Iroquois Constitution is a document that is full of symbolism. This document signifies the peace of five Indian nations. Repetition, description, tone, and influence are the main characteristics of both works of art.

While imprisoned, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, ‘A letter from Birmingham Jail’ as a response to eight clergymen who published a statement that emphatically disagreed with King’s methods of protest towards racism. Dr. King’s reply is demonstrated in a writing style that could be described as ‘efficient’ as he balanced different aspects of organization of his thoughts and passion through use of rhetorical devices to achieve an effective argument. Dr. King, possibly from his pastoral background, wrote his letter in an eloquent, sermon-like matter, yet it was his use of rhetorical devices that effectively stitched his argument together and gave it an interesting flow, either by reminding the reader of his purpose in writing, or to progress through his reasons in an impactful way.

Dr. King says “anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered outsiders” (4). He fought the issue against “injustice” because he believes every state is considered mutual. Nevertheless, King then refutes the difference upon just and unjust laws. King would concur with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all” (12). An unjust law considered to King is a law that “degrade human personality”.

In his letter he is mainly reaching out to the entire country to try and get them to put a stop to racial injustice. The way that he addressed and refuted the clergymen's letter is one of the things that made this letter most effective. Another thing that made this letter so effective, is the way that he used the appeal to emotion, or pathos, to pull the readers in and make them think about if it were them that were being discriminated against. Martin Luther King Jr. is very successful in explaining how injustice anywhere is a threat to justice

Equal rights protester Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.” In 1963, King was arrested for protesting in Birmingham and was put in jail. During that period, he had a lot of spare time and wrote a long and powerful letter full of stylistic elements to church leaders in Birmingham who had criticized him for leading a protest. They made public statements opposing King and his methods for achieving change, but King believed that they misjudged his cause and ways of doing. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses many stylistic elements including convincing examples and keen figurative language to influence his reader to agree with his point in "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Rhetorical devices are a use of language that is intended to have an effect on its audience. Either to persuade them or to make them see something from their own view, like metaphors, or rhetorical questions. In Martin Luther King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” he uses several rhetorical questions and metaphors. That was used to help people understand how he feels about the resistance to racism but in a  nonviolent way. Furthermore he was trying to express his thoughts about what had happened but he was doing it in a civilized non violent or forced manner.

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.

He argued that Christians will be disturbing the peace and those who do are rebelling and are disobedient. If you become disobedient to the king, you are also disobeying God. Boucher argues that if God wanted them to have independence they would have had it, and they should be grateful and thankful with our without it. He says “Obedience to government is every man’s duty because it is ever man’s interest; but it is particularly incumbent on Christians, it is enjoined by the positive commands of God.” (#32; pg. 101) Boucher had many unpersuasive arguments.

Edwards says that it is “nothing of your own, nothing that you have ever done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment” (Edwards 43). This is another instance that he uses logos to show common sense by saying that we do not deserve God’s forgiveness, but we have received it, and the unconverted could not care less. Ethos, pathos, and logos: from ancient times and still being used now due to their relevancy and accomplishments. Jonathan Edwards uses all three of these appeals in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to get his point across and to persuade the unconverted to turn o Jesus Christ. When truly analyzing this sermon

Plus, Proctor’s third son is not baptized because Proctor will not “let Mr. Parris lay a hand upon my (Proctor’s) baby.” Proctor doesn’t see Parris as an honorable leader of the church, but that is clouding his participation in a religious practice, baptism. The final reason why Proctor’s religious knowledge and participation are clouded is because he believes Reverend Parris is greed because Parris was “the first minister ever did demand the deed to his house,” and he “preached nothing but golden candlesticks until he had them.” Once again, one who is Puritan needs to have faith in their religious leader, but Proctor can’t. As a result, he isn’t a devout