Jr., Martin Luther King. 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. In each writing, he uses the devices for many different purposes. The "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was written by the African American hero Dr. Martin Luther King in Birmingham back in 1963, addressing the issues that the African Americans faced back in that time. Any subject. This wait has almost always meant never (King 2). 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. However, this constraint did not ultimately halt the spread of Kings message nation-wide, as it became a persuasive landmark of the civil rights movement, likely due to both his impactful position and persuasive use of rhetoric. How does this comparison appropriately justify. Glenn Eskew, Bombingham: Black Protest in Postwar Birmingham, Alabama, 1997. MLKs use of pathos and repetition is an effective way to persuade his audience about his position on civil disobedience. King is not speaking only of racism; he is speaking of injustice in general. 1, no. 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. Throughout the text, King utilized the values of his audience to gain sympathy and later on support. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. During the era of the civil rights movements in the 60s, among the segregation, racism, and injustice against the blacks, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to deliver one of the greatest public speeches for freedom in that decade. Any deadline. Dr. Kings goal of this letter was to draw attention to the injustice of segregation, and to defend his tactics for achieving justice. 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. Just as well, King uses his aspirations to create ideas within the listeners. 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. He deliberately tries to make the audience feel as if racial segregation is both wrong and against basic morals. Throughout the work, Letter from Bimingham Jail, Martin Luther constantly uses examples from historical figures in order to unite his argument that action must be taken in order to end discrimination and segregation. Both influential speeches rely heavily on rhetorical devices to convey their purpose. While his actions may not have had much success at first during the 1960s what made his arguments so powerful was his use of pathos and logos., In Dr. Martin Luther Kings letter from Birmingham, he targeted specific people who he wrote the letter for including everybody. The clergymen along with others are addressed in an assertive tone allowing them to fully understand why his actions are justified. Throughout the Letter from Birmingham Jail, ethos, pathos, and logos are masterfully applied by Martin Luther King. The way Dr. King constructs his argument is as if he was preaching his argument to his congregation. Dr. In A Letter From A Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. 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. 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. the exigence is the continued condemnation, segregation, and prejudice afflicted against African Americans since the emancipation of the slaves in 1863. Martin Luther in Birmingham Jail, The Atlantic. Thus, these essays are of lower quality than ones written by experts. " A just law is man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of the god. An Unjust Law Is No Law At All: Excerpts from "Letter from Birmingham Jail" January 18, 2021 By The Editors In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we're sharing excerpts from King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," one of the most important moral treatises of the twentieth century. It is rather for us to be here, As it may do that, it also seems to serve more of a logical appeal because he mentions the evidence of white brotherhood. The rhythm and frequent repetition are used to drive home his key points, stressing the importances of his goal. If your first two elements are verbs, the third element is usually a verb, too. 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. 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. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. To summarize, Martin Luther Kings rhetoric is effective and ultimately changed the course of the Civil Rights movement for the better. The audience of a rhetorical piece will shape the rhetoric the author uses in order to appeal, brazen, or educate whoever is exposed. He wanted this letter to encourage and bring up a people that will start a revolution. In addressing and confronting the problem of injustices among the black Americans in the American society, particularly the violence that had happened in Birmingham, and, Martin Luther King Jr. faced many challenges during his life. 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 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. The anaphora "If you were to" is meant to inspire his readers to emp. Note: All essays placed on IvyMoose.com are written by students who kindly donate their papers to us. In the beginning of the speech, King goes back to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence stating that .all men, black or white, were to be granted the same rights (Declaration of Independence). A seminal text of the Civil Rights Movement, King's, "Letter from Birmingham Jail," defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, justifies the measures that brought about his arrest, and asseverates that the segregation laws against blacks in the south must be repealed. But the strongest influential device King used was pathos. He uses a large number of rhetorical devices in his letter to reach his goal, including point of view, imagery, and rhetorical questions. 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. 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. Kings decision to compare his efforts to those of biblical figures with shared intent was a deliberate attempt to find common ground with his initial readers, the eight religious Birmingham clergymen, through the faith of a shared religion. This website uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. In Kings letter, he states, We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Funny thing is he had lots of time to think about and write this letter. Martin Luther King Jr. twists the perspective of his audience -- Southern clergymen -- to create antithetic parallelism in Letter from Birmingham Jail. He shows logos by giving a sense of hope to the people that better things will come in time. There isn't quite as much of that in "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but it still pops up a couple of times. " Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." , 29 May 2019, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail. Parallelism is a literary device in itself, but it is also a category under which other figures of speech fall, such as those mentioned previously. As a black man and pacifist-forward figurehead of the Civil Rights movement, the way Martin Luther is perceived is mostly dictated by preconceived biases and is rampant, widespread, and polarized. 25 terms. King is saying that if we allow injustice to happen in some places, we risk it happening to everyone. Dr. King wrote, This wait has almost always meant never. This is why Dr. king addresses this matter in a letter about the battle of segregation. 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. On the other hand, logical appeals helps to grasp the concept better and provides facts that prove it to be true. King uses tone, literal and figurative language to establish structure and language in his letter. Parallelism/ Juxtaposition. We allow people to think that it is okay to act unjustly towards some individuals. 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 . This comes to endanger our entire society. As mentioned before, the social and political ideologies in America surrounding racial equity at this time, specifically in Birmingham, were extremely poor. Ethically most people believe that it is necessary to keep a promise. This letter is a prime example of Kings expertise in constructing persuasive rhetoric that appealed to the masses at large. is undeniably effective at responding to the rhetorical situation at hand. In Martin Luther King Jrs I Have a Dream speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. 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. 1963, a letter was written to the clergy to alert them of what great injustices were taking place in Birmingham, Alabama. 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). King had been arrested while participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march although several local religious groups counted on King for support. In parallel structure, a writer repeats the same pattern of words or/and pattern of grammatical structure. Its important to note that his initial readers/supporters greatly impacted the scope of his audience, spreading the letter through handouts, flyers, and press, in the hopes that others would be impacted for the better by the weight of the exigence at hand. King implies that one day, all, I Have a Dream, however, played a major step into changing it. 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. Later in the letter, parallelism is used to contrast just laws and unjust laws. 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. Greater importance is placed on his tone, choice of words, choice of argument, and credibility, for better or for worse, and he must carefully make rhetorical decisions, not only because of his race. In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, King's campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. Martin Luther King Jr. displays pathos by targeting the audiences emotion by talking about his American dream that could also be other peoples too. 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. Correspondingly, King urges the clergy to reconsider the horse-and-buggy pace of their methods of action through his logos. During this letter, King then uses the time to unroot the occasion of nonviolent protests in BIrmingham and the disappointing leadership of the clergy. 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. Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail. The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 29 Jan. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/. Although Kings reply was addressed to the Alabama clergyman, its target audience was the white people. Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960s and hes very deserving of that title as seen in both his I Have a Dream speech and his Letter from Birmingham Jail letter. 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. Saying it that way magnifies the imperative difference between the two types of laws. "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, describes a protest against his arrest for non-violent resistance to racism. These circumstances lead us to our next rhetorical focus: audience. The first to come to mind for most would be civil rights activism, as he was an instrumental figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. 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. Identify the parallel structures in the following sentence from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and explain their effect. 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. Throughout the letter, Dr. King does a tremendous job of supporting his argument with the three elements of Aristotles rhetorical appeal. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., King addressed the concerns of the white clergy and gave support to the direct action committed by African Americans. The law was written in 1962, but the powerful response pushed the courts to finalize their decision. 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. Although Dr. Kings exploits are revered today, he had opponents that disagreed with the tactics he employed. Here, King offers disparate hypotheticals to illustrate the necessity for brevity in his acts. The amount of original essays that we did for our clients, The amount of original essays that we did for our clients. As the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s unfolded, Martin Luther King Jr. had, perhaps, the most encompassing and personal rhetorical situation to face in American history. King chose to write this for a reason; to resonate with those who were not his enemies but who held back the movement through compliance. 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. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. Laws should build up society to be better so that a law is not need to be enforced and people will still follow it. Dr. King wrote 2 famous works, Dream and Birmingham and each had a different audience and purpose. 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. Dr. This use of parallel structure emphasizes how just and unjust laws can look deceptively similar. In Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter From Birmingham Jail and I Have a Dream speech he uses many different rhetorical devices. 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. First, King writes that the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. This antithesis makes the audience realize that the Negroes have been left behind and ignored while the rest of modern society has charged forward into prosperity and fortune. He goes on to add; I am in Birmingham because injustice is here (King 1). An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and His letter has become one of the most profound pieces of literature of the 20th century, as King uses vivid examples and eloquent rhetorical devices to counter all nine arguments. Although the letter was addressed to the eight clergymen, the Letter from Birmingham Jail speaks to a national audience. Black Americans were forced to sit behind buses and kids were to use old books and uniforms of White Americans. 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. Despite this, the clergy never questions whether or not segregation is unjust. 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. By using it, you accept our. These "parallel" elements can be used to intensify the rhythm of language, or to draw a comparison, emphasize, or elaborate on an idea. 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. While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. He uses parallelism by repeating I had hoped to ironically accuse his attackers. , vol. Ralph Abernathy (center) and the Rev. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law." 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. similes, metaphors, and imagery are all used to make the letter more appealing to the audiences they make the letter more descriptive while making you focus on one issue at a time. Find step-by-step Literature solutions and your answer to the following textbook question: Identify the parallel structures in the following sentence from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and explain their effect. The topic of Dr. Kings letters from a Birmingham prison is the nonviolent protest being done in Birmingham, Alabama in the fight for African Americans civil rights. Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. This letter serves as a purpose to apply the need for love and brotherhood towards one another and avoid all the unjust laws. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. Dr. King uses his own words to describe what he wants the nation to look like in the future. For example, to use parallelism in a sentence in which you list a series of elements, each element typically has the same form. While in jail, King received a letter from eight Alabama clergyman explaining their concern and opposition to King and his non-violent actions. 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. Parallelism takes many forms in literature, such as anaphora, antithesis, asyndeton, epistrophe, etc. Here, King combines divergent interpretations of justice to demonstrate the gravity of the injustice that he confronted in Birmingham. King establishes his position supported by historical and biblical allusions, counterarguments, and the use of rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. It was during this time that Dr. King, refusing to sit idly by, wrote his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, one of the most inspiring documents in history. Not only was this a social division, but those who opposed King were reinforced by the respective legislature that sought to burden him. King uses pathos to invoke anger, sympathy and empathy, his impeccable use of logos makes his argument rational to everyone, and his use of ethos, especially the use of biblical references, makes his opinions more reliable. King gives a singular, eloquent voice to a massive, jumbled movement. Besides the use of pathos, King uses repetition to enhance the effectiveness of his argument. All of this accumulates into an unwavering social constraint placed on Martin Luther Kings rhetorical text. Civil rights leader and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a world renown correspondence, Letter From Birmingham Jail, in April of 1963, during a time when segregation was at its peak in the South. Writers commonly use parallelism when there is a pair or a series of elements, or in the headlines or outlines of a document. By stating the obvious point and implying that moderates act as though this was not true, he accuses them of both hypocrisy and injustice. 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). Martin Luther Kings Letter From Birmingham Jail is undeniably effective at responding to the rhetorical situation at hand. 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. King uses parallelism to add balance and rhythm to his rhetoric. These purposes can be similar, or different. 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. 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. Dr. King often used repetition and parallel construction to great emotional effect when he spoke. 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. Since Kings arrest he had time to think deeply about the situation; therefore, he decides to reply back to the Alabama clergymen. 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. 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 had a great impact on race relations in the U.S. and he made a great impact on many lives. To minimize the possibility of being deemed invalid due to his race, he must choose what he states and how he states it very precisely which correlates to the constraints Martin Luther himself has on his rhetorical situation. 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. 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. Repetition. : "There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community." . As campaigning, King uses it in his speech in order to express all his points. This special lyrical and parallel structure helped get his main points across and allows a large audience to understand simple but powerful words (Layfield) . The letter goes on to explain his choice to act directly and nonviolently, stating, For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. In this way, King juxtaposes the unscrupulous principles of the clergy with his righteous beliefs to highlight the threat of injustice, which he seeks to combat with hope. His goal is to make the clergymen help him fight racial equality. 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. 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." 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.
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