Back then, people were ready to oppose unjust laws that were causing inequality and preventing progress. In addition, King is also in Birmingham because he feels compelled to respond to injustice wherever he finds it. The letter is a plea to both white and black Americans to encourage desegregation and to encourage equality among all Americans, both black and white, along all social, political and religious ranks, clearly stating that there should be no levels of equality based upon racial differences., In Letter from Birmingham Jail, author Martin Luther King Jr. confirms the fact that human rights must take precedence over unjust laws. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. Despite his support, Martin Luthers audience is one of the largest constraints in his rhetorical situation. Kings use of pathos gives him the ability to encourage his fellow civil rights activists, evoke empathy in white conservatives, and allow the eight clergymen and the rest of his national audience to feel compassion towards the issue. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. MLKs use of pathos and repetition is an effective way to persuade his audience about his position on civil disobedience. Egypt) and titles (e.g. Explain why the examples fit your chosen reason. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a letter that illustrates oppression being a large battle fought in this generation and location. These circumstances lead us to our next rhetorical focus: audience. Martin Luther Kings Letter From Birmingham Jail is undeniably effective at responding to the rhetorical situation at hand. 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. Yes he does criticize the white clergymen but basically he is trying to tell them that they should stop this segregation and that the black are not to be mistreated. This period of quiet speculation over the law illuminates the national divide in opinion over the matter, one which King helped persuade positively. Magnifying the differences between two things and repeating statements with similar structure brings about emotion to realize the wrongness of the injustice of civil. the exigence is the continued condemnation, segregation, and prejudice afflicted against African Americans since the emancipation of the slaves in 1863. In his letter he uses examples like when you have seen hate-filled policeman curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters. and when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and gathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim to make his audience envision and feel what many negroes felt while watching their families put up with this mistreatment. King through this letter tries to express his, "Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses and responds to the issue and criticism that a group of white clergymen had thrown at him and his pro- black American organization about his and his organization's non- violent demonstrative actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black Americans in Birmingham. One example of Kings use of pathos appeals to the audiences emotions by showing Kings confidence in his endeavors. Ralph Abernathy (center) and the Rev. Order can only be held for so long whilst injustice is around. In the letter, King appeals for unity against racism in society, while he wants to fight for Human Rights, using ethos. Through powerful, emotionally-loaded diction, syntax, and figurative language, King adopts a disheartened tone later shifts into a determined tone in order to express and reflect on his disappointment with the churchs inaction and his goals for the future. 114, Jr., Martin Luther King. This wait has almost always meant never (King 2). Right after that, he alludes to another American writing, the Declaration of. In terms of legacies, Martin Luther King Jr. is an example of someone whose legacy has left an impact on a great many fields. Lincoln states, We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. What he says means that the soldiers lost their lives to give us freedom. In each writing, he uses the devices for many different purposes. Here, King concedes that the clergy acts with the virtuous goal of justice in mind, which allows him to establish his argument against the manner in which they seek equality. They fought for what they believed in but in vastly different ways. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. If your first two elements are verbs, the third element is usually a verb, too. This period of quiet speculation over the law illuminates the national divide in opinion over the matter, one which King helped persuade positively. He uses the rhetorical appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos numerous times throughout his essay to relay his argument about the laws of segregation and the African-Americans that are being cruelly treated.. . " Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a famous speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and freedom, this speech was called I have a dream. This speech was focused on ending racism and equal rights for African Americans during the civil rights movement. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King typically uses repetition in the form of anaphora - repeating the same word (s) at the beginning of consecutive clauses. He is a firm believer that Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere (262). Mistreatment of this kind is labeled as racial discrimination. Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail addresses his fellow clergymen and others who critiqued him for his actions during this time. The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws Any law that uplifts human personality is just. In this example, King manufactures logos through the creation of antithetic parallelism, as the structure of his essay provides justification for his argument against the postponement of justice. Letter from Birmingham Jail. The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, 29 May 2019, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail. Prior to the mid 20th century, social injustice, by means of the Jim Crow laws, gave way to a disparity in the treatment of minorities, especially African Americans, when compared to Caucasians. This use of parallel structure emphasizes how just and unjust laws can look deceptively similar. Abused and scorned through we may be, our destiny is tied with the destiny of America. (Page 9) The sureness King presents in this quote both instills hope in the reader and allows them to relate to Kings passion. Read along here: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.htmlop audio here: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/lett. For example, to use parallelism in a sentence in which you list a series of elements, each element typically has the same form. King specifically wrote to the white clergymen who had earlier addressed a letter to him as to why he was apprehended, in which they argued that his actions were untimely and unconstitutional. Martin Luther King Jr. displays pathos by targeting the audiences emotion by talking about his American dream that could also be other peoples too. There may have been advantages to broadcasting this message similarly to his I Have a Dream speech, which touched America deeply, due potentially to the accessible, instantaneous, and widespread coverage in American media. Fred Shuttlesworth, defied an injunction against protesting on Good Friday in 1963. In parallel structure, a writer repeats the same pattern of words or/and pattern of grammatical structure. A letter, as a medium, is constraining as there is one definitive original copy, it is addressed to a small specific group, and since it cannot be directly broadcasted widely, opposed to television or radio, it must be printed or passed along analogically. Early in his speech, King writes riches of freedom and security of justice and then justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. In these two examples, King is using parallelism to express that the African American wants justice and freedom by repeating them next to each other and mentally connecting them in the readers mind, which is also connected with pathos as the terms King uses subtly emphasize those words and create good feelings in the reader. The biases of the audience go hand in hand with the rhetorical exigence of this letter, another large constraint in the effectiveness of his message. 1, Penn State University Press, 1968, pp. Both their speeches, I Have a Dream and The Ballot or the Bullet may have shared some common traits, but at the same time, differed greatly in various aspects. While pathos elicits an emotional response from the audience to make them more accepting of Kings ideas, repetition structures the speech and emphasizes key ideas for the audience to take away from listening. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. In Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King responds to the subjectivity of law and the issue he paramounts by using precise and impactful rhetoric from inside of his jail cell. Dr. Kings goal of this letter was to draw attention to the injustice of segregation, and to defend his tactics for achieving justice. While his letter was only addressed to the clergymen, it is safe to assume that King had intent on the public eventually reading his letter, considering his position within the Civil Rights movement, use of persuasive rhetorical language, and hard-hitting debates on the justification of law. Although Kings reply was addressed to the Alabama clergyman, its target audience was the white people. Introduction. This exigence is rhetorical because it can be improved if enough people are socially cognizant, whether that be in legislature or the streets of Birmingham, through creation and enforcement of equitable laws and social attitudes. MarkAHA. Being nearly symbolic, King being held prisoner in Birmingham, the most polar racial arena of the United States, made his rhetoric more effective. He died in 1968. In Kings speech he says, Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country (King Page 6). Letter from a Birmingham Jail: The Rhetorical Analysis At the peak of the Civil War Movement in America on April 12th, 1963, eight Alabama . Martin Luther King Jr. twists the perspective of his audience -- Southern clergymen -- to create antithetic parallelism in Letter from Birmingham Jail. Dr. King's letter from Birmingham Jail addresses the American society, particularly the political and religious community of the American society. While his supporters nation-wide were avid, determined, and hopeful, they were challenged by the opposing, vastly white population, comfortable in their segregated establishments and racist ideologies who would certainly weaponize his viewpoints. This evidence, revealing MLKs use of pathos, was used to reach out to the emotional citizens who have either experienced or watched police brutality. Although the letter was addressed to the eight clergymen, the Letter from Birmingham Jail speaks to a national audience. This is the beginning of King's point-by-point rebuttal of the criticisms leveled against him.
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