Good Opening and Thesis:

English III-AP

Wesley 5

5 December 2016

Letter from Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

            In Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. uses rhetorical devices to support his stance on the protests in Birmingham that landed him in jail and give himself an air of authority and credibility in the eyes of the reader. King’s language perfectly displays his intense devotion to the Civil Rights Movement and the emotional turmoil he has endured as a prominent black man in America. The impact of this letter is due to King’s rhetoric, which forces the perspective of a black American during the segregation era onto the reader and illustrates the urgency and necessity of the protests. Most notably, King uses allusion to showcase his credibility as an intellectual, metaphors to evoke an emotional response from the reader, and repetition to create a sense of urgency.

One more

In America, throughout the 1950s and 60s, many protest were taking place in the south to promote freedom and desegregation of people of all races and skin color. Primarily, the Africans Americans were fighting to see segregation come to an end in a country that supposedly supported freedom and equal rights to all. However, the seemingly peaceful demonstrations became criticized by clergymen of Alabama, prompting the Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen, which disapproved the protest’s untimeliness. In response to the clergymen’s acquisitions that the protest in Birmingham were untimely, in Letters from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. uses repetition through an anaphora, an appeal to emotions through details, and historical allusions to prove to his audience the legitimacy of this movement.

Good Allusions Paragraph

On the surface, the Letter from Birmingham Jail was a response to an open letter from eight Alabama clergymen. King had a PhD and was a reverend himself, but as a black man he was drastically underestimated by the general population. In the passage, King makes an allusion to several philosophers and religious figures. King credits Saint Thomas Aquinas for saying, “an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law” (52-53). Following this, King references Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher, and later refers to the clergymen as his “Christian and Jewish brothers” (75). These allusions show King’s meticulous preparation of every sentence in this letter. He makes constant religious allusions in the letter, carefully and thoroughly dismantling the clergymen’s credibility as they contradict their faith, and building his own credibility as an intellectual. The inclusion of the Jewish philosopher was an appeal to the rabbi’s intellect, but King goes on to appeal to the rabbi’s emotions as well. Later, King makes a historical allusion to the holocaust, which was a relatively fresh wound at the time. King states that “if [he] had lived in Germany during that time” (72) he would have aided the persecuted Jews. The allusions to real life people and events strengthen King’s credibility by bringing historical perspective into the argument.

Portion of another good allusions paragraph

. Later in the text King alludes to Jesus to illustrate why the clergymen want to end the illegal acts of defiance. The clergymen believe that even though the protests are peaceful, they must end because they promote violence. King states “Isn’t this like condemming Jesus because His unique God-Consciousness and never ceasing devotion to His will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion” (91-92). Kings allusion is effective because he is writing to clergymen, who have a substancial knowledge of Christianity, so this allusion gives them something to understand. It also creates a parallel between the Civil Rights Movement and the religious movements of Jesus Christ, all King and his supporters wish is for equality between all men and to do this they must spread the word and teach others like Jesus did. King wants the clergymen to understand the devotion those who take part in the movement have to the civil rights cause, even though much of their protests violate city laws, he stresses the connection between the civil rights protester’s devotion, and the devotion Jesus had to God. 

Good Appeals Paragraph

        One of Martin Luther King’s strongest assets when writing Letter from Birmingham Jail was his genius use of the persuasive appeal (ethos, pathos and logos) to get across his point.  In order to emotionally appeal to his audience, King depicts horrific imagery that blacks in the U.S. had experienced, and in doing so, helped whites to understand the pain and suffering that had been endured for hundreds of years.  He mentions that it is only natural to grow unhappy with the current social structure “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 and even kill your black brothers and sisters…” (22-24).  Additionally, King uses the image of children suffering to bolster the pathos, and thus enhance his persuasive efforts.  King explains how it is heart breaking to have “to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling in her eyes” (26-27).  This picture of King having this conversation with his own daughter invokes lots of emotion and is truly saddening, making it an extremely effective tool for persuasion.   For people to believe what King wrote, it was imperative that he established a certain level of credibility, in order to ensure people that the things he was saying were completely valid.  Early on in his letter, King addresses the notion that the actions taken by the civil rights activists were inappropriate and unnecessary.  In a response to this, King explains how he and his black brother “know through painful experience that freedom is voluntarily given by the oppressor” and in saying this, he demonstrates that he has been through these issues before, and is therefore well versed, experienced and a credible/trustworthy source (13).

Good Anaphora Paragraph

Through anaphora King refutes arguments made by the eight clergymen. King repeats the words “when you” many times in lines 22-35. King states “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will… when you have seen hateful policemen curse, kick and even kill your brothers and sisters… when you have seen…” (22-24). King uses anaphora to build tension in his writing, the repetition of this phrase allows the reader to personalize with his experiences. But most importantly it builds tension to reveal his main idea at the end of the paragraph. King addresses timeliness in this paragraph through personal experience, so after the repetition of “when you” followed by personal and societal experiences he places “then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait” (37-38). King builds a counterargument against the clergymens idea that desegregation will come naturally by repeating a phrase ad placing his main point at the end of the paragraph for emphasis. Kings use of anaphora depicts his effective persuasive techniques and personal points to convey his message that the time is now for segregation to end.

Appeal To Logos (and a good conclusion)

For those not so effected by emotions and feeling, King was able to take an additional persuasive approach with the use of logos in his letter.  The clergymen blamed King and his followers for “precipitating violence” in their movement (line 86).  King effectively counter argues this by making the clergymen question the logic of this claim against King.  King says that blaming him and his followers for the violence erupting in the country was like blaming a robbed man because his possession of money led to the violent and evil act of robbery.  He said it was like blaming Jesus because his faith led him to be crucified.  By making the clergymen think, King was able to show that the actions of his movement were peaceful but it and that it was illogical to try and punish the blacks’ efforts for constitution rights by saying that the movement created violence. 

King’s use of ethos, pathos and logos effectively countered the arguments of the clergymen against the civil rights movement.  King’s language and technique captured the degrading treatment of blacks during this time, caught the attention of the clergymen, and helped spread the ideas of the movement to a larger audience.   This document is rightfully praised for the compelling persuasiveness established by King.   

Use of Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are also used by King to get the reader thinking about the current situation, and why it is so crucial that segregation ends as soon as possible. King not only asks these questions, but also manages to pull religious figures into the questioning, to appeal to his audience. King alludes to Jesus by asking “ Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique god-consciousness and never-ceasing devotion to his will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? (91-92). The allusion to Jesus not only depicts Kings religious purpose, but also helps highlight King’s paternalistic tone. He is almost trying to preach that religious men such as the Clergymen should not segregate themselves. In relation to his question, he is almost saying that any religious Clergyman could not actually inflict such harm on another being. This would hit the Clergymen hard and make them open their eyes because they might then begin to question themselves, and what there purpose preaching the word of god truly is. This is exactly what a rhetorical question is intended to do. 

Addressing Parallel Historical Situations

King opens up his response by providing motivation for theses peaceful protests; the clergymen do not see merit for his actions so he sets himself up to show why he has no better options than the path that he already took. The clergymen question the timing of his protest and urge him to try negotiating and letting the legal system take care of the situation. King raises the point that “it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but, as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals” (9). King uses a general historical pattern to synthesize the events of his time to any given time the reader can think of where an oppressor refuses rights to an oppresses, while alluding to a significant philosopher that most people, but especially the clergymen would understand. By grouping himself and these protests to an event that the reader can better understand he establishes credibility and aides his argument in the process.