Not only was this a social division, but those who opposed King were reinforced by the respective legislature that sought to burden him. It managed to inspire a generation of blacks to never give up and made thousands of white Americans bitterly ashamed of their actions, forging a new start for society. Bitzer, Lloyd F. The Rhetorical Situation.. This evidence, revealing MLKs use of pathos, was used to reach out to the emotional citizens who have either experienced or watched police brutality. In this example, King employs antithesis to highlight the logical structure and urgency of his argument against inequity, which allows him to establish logos. An Unjust Law Is No Law At All: Excerpts from "Letter from Birmingham Jail" This protest, his subsequent arrest, and the clergymens public statement ostensibly make up the rhetorical exigence, but it truly stems from a much larger and dangerous situation at hand: the overwhelming state of anti-black prejudice spread socially, systematically, and legislatively in America since the countrys implementation of slavery in Jamestown, 1619. At this time, he is representative of the Black American population and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole he is Martin Luther King Jr., and while this is a powerful position to occupy, the constraints imposed are just as dominant. Lloyd Bitzer describes rhetorical situation as, a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action to bring about the significant modification of the exigence (6). Martin Luther King then goes on to make an analogy to the Bible, portraying Apostle Pauls proliferation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in parallel to his own efforts, stating, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown (1). He writes how the white church is often disappointed in the African Americans lack of patience and how they are quick to be willing to break laws. By using it, you accept our. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. He ended up creating a very persuasive letter, one that effectively uses ethos in establishing his character, logos in providing reason and logic, and pathos in reaching human emotions. He uses rhetorical devices such as repetition, analogy, and rhetorical questions. Additionally, personable elements such as tone, inflection, and overall vindication behind the letter are left to be determined by the rhetorical language. 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). 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. Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. : "There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community." . 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. In the letter "Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. writes to the Clergyman to express his idea on the racial discrimination and injustice going on in Birmingham Alabama. From this revelation, the audience will also realize that it is no fault of the Negro that they have been left behind in contrast, modern society have been dragging them back through racism. Dr. Kings goal of this letter was to draw attention to the injustice of segregation, and to defend his tactics for achieving justice. Although Kings reply was addressed to the Alabama clergyman, its target audience was the white people. Magnifying the differences between two things and repeating statements with similar structure brings about emotion to realize the wrongness of the injustice of civil. This letter is a prime example of Kings expertise in constructing persuasive rhetoric that appealed to the masses at large. King gives a singular, eloquent voice to a massive, jumbled movement. He had a great impact on race relations in the U.S. and he made a great impact on many lives. As King disproves the arguments of the white clergymen, he utilizes antithesis to create logos; furthermore, he calls the reader to take action against injustice across the nation. King organized various non-violent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama that resulted in his arrest. 114, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733. In paragraphs 33 to 44 of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s response to A Call for Unity, a declaration by eight clergymen, Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), he expresses that despite his love for the church, he is disappointed with its lack of action regarding the Civil Rights Movement. Laws should build up society to be better so that a law is not need to be enforced and people will still follow it. 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. In order to dispel any misguided ideas that whites have of the Negroes fortune, King tells them directly that Negroes are in poverty as everybody is blocking them from entering the ocean of material prosperity. The second time King uses antithesis is when he states that Nineteen Sixty-Three is not an end, but a beginning, which he aims to express that the revolution will not stop at 1963; rather it will have a new beginning. 25 terms. Martin Luther found himself arrested on the twelfth of April 1963 after leading a peaceful protest throughout Birmingham, Alabama after he defied a state courts injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores (Jr., Martin Luther King). Throughout the letter critics are disproved through Kings effective use of diction and selection of detail. He wants the clergyman to realize that what they believe and think is wrong. One of the challenges that he faced included being criticized because of what he believed in concerning the laws of segregation. Pathos are present more often in the I Have A Dream speech, mainly because he is bravely facing a crowd, speaking from the heart, rather than formality. King defends his primary thesis all throughout the length of his letter, and the arguments that he has made to prove that his thesis is true and valid will be the focus of this rhetorical analysis. He does an exceptional job using both these appeals throughout his speeches by backing up his emotional appeals with logical ones. Engels . Initially, the eight Birmingham clergymen are the audience and while they were not overtly racist, King uses rhetoric meant to have them understand his urgency. Repetition in "The Letter from a Birmingham Jail" Ethos Example "A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. Comparison Of Letter From Birmingham Jail And The Perils Of Indifference While in jail, King received a letter from eight Alabama clergyman explaining their concern and opposition to King and his non-violent actions. Required fields are marked *. Order can only be held for so long whilst injustice is around. 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. King uses tone, literal and figurative language to establish structure and language in his letter. Through the masterful use of analogies and undeniable examples of injustice, Kings disgruntled response to the clergies proves the justification for direct action taking place to establish equality for African Americans., Martin Luther Kings letter from Birmingham Jail was written to respond to white religious leaders who criticized his organizations actions against racial prejudice and injustice among black society in Birmingham. He takes up for his cause in Birmingham, and his belief that nonviolent direct action is the best way to make changes happen. This use of parallel structure emphasizes how just and unjust laws can look deceptively similar. Letter from a Birmingham Jail AP.GOPO: PRD1.A (LO) , PRD1.A.2 (EK) Google Classroom Full text of "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience. As he sits in a cell of Birmingham Jail in 1963, he responds to criticism from eight white clergymen. An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and To summarize, Martin Luther Kings rhetoric is effective and ultimately changed the course of the Civil Rights movement for the better. The anaphora "If you were to" is meant to inspire his readers to emp. 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. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. Metaphors, Similes, and Imagery In "Letters from a Birmingha In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and nearly 50 other protestors and civil rights leaders were arrested after leading a Good Friday demonstration as part of the . Explain why the examples fit your chosen reason. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in 1954. In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail", written by Martin Luther King Jr., King delivers a well structured response to eight clergymen who had accused him of misuse of the law. Other than the speechs heartwarming and moving content, Kings effective structure along with the usage of all three rhetorical modes and certain rhetorical tropes and schemes has revealed the reason I Have a Dream as a masterpiece of rhetoric and it persuades hundreds of thousands of people support the blacks instead of treating them. Egypt) and titles (e.g. Lastly, the exigence of a rhetorical piece is the external issue, situation, or event in which the rhetoric is responding to. 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. He hopes that this letter will stop this injustice matter, and show what the African American desire. Mistreatment of this kind is labeled as racial discrimination. When Dr. King first arrived in Birmingham, trouble occurred when he and fellow activists were . The rhythm and frequent repetition are used to drive home his key points, stressing the importances of his goal. PDF Letter from a Birmingham Jail: The Rhetorical Analysis With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This audience is rhetorical as the social and political ideologies of the American people fuel democracy and are able to change the system around them through collective effort. 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. Therefore, as King fabricates antithetic parallelism, he constructs logos and persuades the audience to take prompt action against injustice through the careful juxtaposition of inverse statements. Letter from Birmingham Jail; McAuley ELA I HON. Overall, King is saying that we need to fight against injustice anywhere we see it,, In April of 1963, while incarcerated in Birmingham City jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an influential letter defending his anti-segregation protests.
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