He had a great impact on race relations in the U.S. and he made a great impact on many lives. He proves his authority through his explanation of his experience as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia (King 232), and he emphasizes the importance of addressing the situation to him when he says, seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas, referring to the people of Birminghams resistance to the civil protests that he has been leading in Birmingham (King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. mentions the atrocities of racism and describes his endless battles against it. The anaphora "If you were to" is meant to inspire his readers to emp. He takes up for his cause in Birmingham, and his belief that nonviolent direct action is the best way to make changes happen. But immediately after Dr. King speaks out on how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the free will that is deserved. That sentence magnifies the fact that good people doing nothing is the same as bad people purposely hindering civil rights. While the Civil Rights movement superseded the dismantling of Jim Crow, the social ideologies and lackadaisical legislature behind anti-black prejudice continued to rack the country far into the 1960s. Dr. King brought people up and gave them hope that one day everything will be taken care of and we 'll all be happy, he said that one day we 'll have peace and love among each other. While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Thus, these essays are of lower quality than ones written by experts. His use of diction and syntax would align his mission to Gods, and show that he was in the right and the clergymen were in the wrong. This letter is a prime example of Kings expertise in constructing persuasive rhetoric that appealed to the masses at large. Ultimately, he effectively tackles societal constraints, whether it be audience bias, historical racism, or how he is viewed by using the power of his rhetoric to his advantage. King spins the constraining pressure to properly represent the movement on its head, using his rhetoric to uplift the underprivileged and leave no room in his language for criticism, proven by the continuous adoption of his messages by the public. 1963, a letter was written to the clergy to alert them of what great injustices were taking place in Birmingham, Alabama. They were arrested and held in . 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. 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. In sum, all rhetoric has an external situation in which it is responding to. In 1963, while Martin Luther King was in Birmingham Jail, King delivered a powerful letter to his Clergymen in order to take time and respond to the criticism he had received over his work in Birmingham. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" "United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. He wants the clergyman to realize that what they believe and think is wrong. Any subject. The audience of Letter From Birmingham Jail was initially the eight clergymen of Birmingham, all white and in positions of religious leadership. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how Kings protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. King strategically persuades. He deliberately tries to make the audience feel as if racial segregation is both wrong and against basic morals. Who was he truly writing for? Throughout the essay, King uses several powerful tones to complement his strong opinion, Martin Luther King Jrs Letter from Birmingham Jail is one his many writings on segregation and racial inequality towards blacks in the southern American states. and may encompass the audience, as seen while analysing, The audience of a rhetorical piece will shape the rhetoric the author uses in order to appeal, brazen, or educate whoever is exposed. : "There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community." . Dr. King goes on to say that laws that do not match what the Bible says are unjust. Martin Luther Kings Letter From Birmingham Jail is undeniably effective at responding to the rhetorical situation at hand. To summarize, Martin Luther Kings rhetoric is effective and ultimately changed the course of the Civil Rights movement for the better. Martin Luther King Jr., with the Rev. Lines 14-43: King provides three different types of reasons in his letter to justify his presence in Birmingham: Organizational reasons, religious or historical reasons, and moral reasons. In addition, King is also in Birmingham because he feels compelled to respond to injustice wherever he finds it. This essay was written by a fellow student. This use of parallel structure emphasizes how just and unjust laws can look deceptively similar. 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. One example of Kings use of pathos appeals to the audiences emotions by showing Kings confidence in his endeavors. In paragraph 15 of his "Letter from Birmingham Jail", Martin Luther King uses. Both works utilizes the persuasive techniques of pathos in Dream and logos in Birmingham. Both of the works had a powerful message that brought faith to many. Emotional appeal uses intense words and charged language to grab listeners to get them to keep listening. The constraints surrounding Martin Luther Kings rhetorical situation include the audience, the rhetorical exigence of the situation he is responding to, Dr. King himself, and the medium, all of which are deeply connected. This letter serves as a purpose to apply the need for love and brotherhood towards one another and avoid all the unjust laws. He uses these rhetorical techniques along with a logical argument to demonstrate why his methods were right., Martin Luther King, Jr. a civil rights activist that fought for the rights of African Americans in 1963. 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. Your email address will not be published. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. He wrote the letter in response to criticisms made by white clergymen. In response to Kings peaceful protesting, the white community viewed [his] nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist, and subsequently imprisoned the pastor (para 27). It was important for King to address this audience as their support would ultimately make the largest difference in the movement. Introduction. Analysing a rhetorical situation clarifies why a text was created, the purpose in which it was written, and why the author made specific choices while writing it. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. " A just law is man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of the god. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. One example of parallelism he uses is, But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity (Barnet and Bedau 741). He hopes that "[o]ne day the South will know that [the Negroes] were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream" (47), and that "the evil system of segregation" (46) will come to an end. Similarly, King uses pathos to trigger the emotional . Correspondingly, King urges the clergy to reconsider the horse-and-buggy pace of their methods of action through his logos. It elucidated the exigence behind his letter as his presented rationale behind his arrest only made unjust laws appear more asinine and questionable by relation. Lastly, the exigence of a rhetorical piece is the external issue, situation, or event in which the rhetoric is responding to. Parallelism is useful to emphasize things and ideas to the audience, which, like all the other tropes and schemes. Not only was this a social division, but those who opposed King were reinforced by the respective legislature that sought to burden him. He displays a great amount of pathos, logos, and ethos in his speech. He seeks to make them see the logic behind their protesting and make them feel ashamed and embarrassed by the way that they have been treating the African Americans. However, Martin Luther King Jr is an extremely influential figure in the field of oration and rhetoric. When King was making his mark in American history, the United States was experiencing great social unrest due to the injustice towards their colored citizens, which would lead to social rights rallies and unnecessary violence. Ultimately, King crafts antithetic parallelism to establish a logical structure that emphasizes logos in his argument: the timeliness of justice. Malcolm X, on the other hand, grew up in a rather hostile environment with barely enough schooling. In this example, King implements logos to create a cohesive argument that appeals to the rational side of his audience: Southern clergymen. King understood that if he gained support from the white American, the civil rights movement would reach its goals much faster. By addressing his respect for the clergymen, feigned or not, he is acknowledging the effectiveness of respect to those in power, whether they may or may not deserve it. The letter was addressed to clergymen who had criticized King and made many claims against him. Example: Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Although Kings reply was addressed to the Alabama clergyman, its target audience was the white people. However, in the months that followed, Kings powerful words were distributed to the public through civil rights committees, the press, and was even read in testimony before Congress (Letter from Birmingham Jail), taking the country by storm. Throughout the letter, Dr. King does a tremendous job of supporting his argument with the three elements of Aristotles rhetorical appeal. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were both two African American civil rights activists who were very prominent throughout history. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. There isn't quite as much of that in "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but it still pops up a couple of times. Using emotional appeals captures an audience's attention and makes them think about what the narrator is saying. King implies that one day, all, I Have a Dream, however, played a major step into changing it. King organized various non-violent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama that resulted in his arrest. Dr. King wrote 2 famous works, Dream and Birmingham and each had a different audience and purpose. 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. There are people in the white community that are already standing hand-in-hand with them and their dreams. In his "Letter form a Birmingham Jail" and his "I have a Dream speech, Dr. King uses metaphor, repetition and parallel structure to provide visual images which may evoke empathy in the readers and audience and emphasize the ideas he presents: the argument for civil rights and the goal to end segregation. Dr. King was the foremost civil rights leader in America in the 1950s and 1960s who was ordained minister and held a doctorate in theology. While there were consistent and impactful efforts made by various groups for equality throughout the civil rights era, the proximity between the public release of the letter, found nation-wide by late 1963, and the passing of the Civil Rights Act in early July 1964 shows the direct impact the letter had on social attitudes following its publicization. Active Themes. His Letter from Birmingham Jail is a work that he wrote while incarcerated in the Birmingham City Jail in response to criticism from Alabama clergymen. King's main thesis in writing the Birmingham letter is that, racial segregation, or injustice to the black American society, is due to the continuous encouragement of the white American society, particularly the powerful communities in politics and religions. King was the figurehead of the Civil Rights movement, infamous for his I Have a Dream speech and substantially impactful rhetoric promoting social and political change, peaceful indignation, and calls to awareness. Read along here: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.htmlop audio here: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/lett. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, King implements antithesis -- along with his background as a minister -- to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Southern clergymen, as he attempts to further diverge the two diametric rationales; thus, he creates logos as he appeals to the audiences logical side and urges African-Americans to act punctual in their fight against injustice, prompted by the imprudent words of the clergy. , Atlantic Media Company, 29 Jan. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/. His passionate tone flowed through these strategies, increasing their persuasive power on the people and encouraging them to follow/listen to his message on racial injustice. 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. He had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress (King 267). Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail addresses his fellow clergymen and others who critiqued him for his actions during this time. Macbeth) in the essay title portion of your citation. What type/s of rhetorical device is used in this statement? The continuous mistreatment of African Americans for over a century was, at last, deeply questioned and challenged nationwide with the growing popularity of the Civil Rights movement, and the topic of equality for all had divided the country. To this day, Kings speech remains one of the most famous and influential speeches in. He uses a large number of rhetorical devices in his letter to reach his goal, including point of view, imagery, and rhetorical questions.