Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most convincing civil rights activists recorded in history; but what made his speeches so successful to the public? According to Aristotle, there are three rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos appeals people through trustworthiness, pathos appeals by creating empathy from the crowd, meanwhile logos is the appeal of reason. Looking into King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, he uses these techniques to persuade his audience. In fact, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” had a broad audience it was written for such as group of ministers, a rabbi, and others. So he needed to write something to compel to all them. If there was one appeal King used constantly throughout his works, it would be pathos. This is one of his strongest appeals, in other words, pathos helped him the most to get support towards his claim. He has made his audience feel certain emotions in speeches like “I Have a Dream” and “Beyond Vietnam”; the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was no different. …show more content…
“Wait” is a very frustrating and demanding word. Some of his White audience never had to wait for their rights, so it was very affective towards them. Then on the next paragraph right after, he twists his audience’s hearts when telling a little girl’s point of view of segregation. Later this gets targeted towards the Supreme
In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. uses his personal experience to convince others of the importance of revising the segregation laws that were in place during 1960’s. In paragraphs 13 and 14 in particular, there is a lot of language used to persuade the reader’s opinions and emotions toward King’s argument. He does this not only convince his fellow clergymen, but to inform others of the reality that African Americans faced in the 60’s.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on April 12, 1963, in Birmingham, for having a protest without a proper permit. On the exact day King was arrested, eight clergymen from Alabama wrote a letter called “A Call for Unity.” The letter called for termination of civil activities and demonstrations and designated King an “outsider” and saying that outsiders were the problems in Birmingham and not the blacks that are from there. On April 16 King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which was his responds to his fellow clergymen. He wrote the letter as a means to convince the clergymen and the white moderate that the nonviolent demonstrations that had got him arrested, were a necessity and to enlighten them on why the segregation laws in the southern states needed to be changed. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade the clergymen and convince them in assisting him in putting an end to segregation laws of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama.
In lines 144-145, King uses the quote “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”to explain how to “wait” means never and he knows that waiting would only delay the obtention of the rights that they have been fighting tirelessly for. King notes that those saying to “wait” have not dealt with the pain and struggles associated with segregation and racism. He uses pathos, which inflicts emotion upon the reader, to describe why the movement simply cannot “wait” any longer. He tells of how he needs to explain to his children why they are treated differently from the white children, how he sees innocent African Americans being lynched, and how places would not provide them service simply because they were not white. This use of pathos, or emotional appeal, exemplifies their need to take direct action and waste no time on
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
His emotional appealing begins when he stated: “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.” And his emotional appealing continues and gets more effective when he describes the suffering life of black people who are suffering from racism and injustice:” when you take a country-cross drive and found it necessary to sleep night after night in the corner of automobile because no hotel would accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white’ and ‘colored’”. This makes people want to join his case and mak...
He knows that the white moderates have strong family values, so he reaches out to them by providing stories about children. There is one story about a little girl who has just seen an ad on television and when she asks her father if she can go, he has to look his daughter in the eye and tell her that?Funtown is closed to colored children? King 561. He then goes on to explain how that forces that young child to grow up feeling inferior and to begin to hate because she has darker skin than the other children do. Then there is another story about the family taking a cross-country vacation and having to?
The letter from Birmingham jail by Dr. Marin Luther King was written as a response of King to nine criticisms made against the Southern Christian leaders and King’s participation in demonstration in Birmingham. King handled many rhetorical devices to convince his opponents such as the white clergymen with his rights to protest, create tension for direct action and to achieve the racial justice. The devices fluctuate between Logos, Pathos and Ethos in a clever way to appeal to his audience and criticize them at the same time. King provided logical supports such as biblical figures, historical and philosophical references. In addition, he used verities of metaphors, allergy and poetic language. In my essay, I will point out some of the rhetorical devices and
In Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, pathos, ethos, and logos are vividly expressed throughout it. All three rhetorical devices are vital to the meaning of the letter; the most influential being pathos. MLK takes advantage of the human body’s strong response to emotion. It is illustrated in his appeal to empathy, exercised mainly through gruesome depictions; his call for action to his peers, as shown when he expresses his disappointment in them as they preserve order over justice; and his strategic use of pathos as a supporting effort for both ethos and logos arguments.
King makes good use of Aristotle's three argumentative appeals. Though, he does not use strong facts in his logical appeals. This is reasonable, as he was in jail. He did not have any way to get evidence, which would be necessary to provide proof. Nonetheless, this would have made King a much more reliable source. King's letter is mostly an ethical piece. And it has to be, because the letter is a reply to criticisms pointed to King. For whatever reasons, the cultural effects of the letter are great. King used the letter to explain what his logic, reasons, and purposes were.
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King is able to effectively argue against criticisms through the use of passionate and calm tones, vivid metaphors, and biblical and historical allusions. King uses numerous biblical allusions to resonate with his clergymen audience and to make them realize that they were condemning a righteous movement. The vivid language in metaphors captures emotion and expands understanding. Mr. King was able to do anything to end the injustice in Birmingham and his commitment was shown in his tone.
King’s critics wrote that he was “unwise and untimely” in his pursuit of direct action and that he ought to have ‘waited’ for change, King explains that “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’”. This short statement hits home especially when followed up with a lengthy paragraph detailing injustices done towards African Americans, including lynching and drowning. In his descriptions King uses familial terms such as ‘mother’ and ‘father’, which are words that typically elicit an emotional response from an audience, to picture ones family in such terrible situations would surely drive home the idea that the African American community cannot ‘wait’ anymore for a freedom that will probably never be given to them
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses the appeal of ethos from the beginning until the end of his speech. Because he was talking about African-American people, his own race that were dealing with racism and discrimination. However, Dr. King uses all the rhetorical devices in many ways to the best of his ability to gain the favor of his audience, and he made an unforgettable and effectively speech that made an impact on America. His main purpose was to fight for the equal rights of African-American people and in order for him to do that, he aided the civil rights to help his own race to improve their
Pathos or emotional appeal is to make the audience feel what he feels or that he feels as they do. King is not blinded to the abuse and prejudice his people have suffered, for he has suffered too. He also knows that some have just come fresh from narrow cells and some have come from areas where their quest for freedom left them battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutally. (King 853) He understands and sympathizes with the audience in how unfairly they are treated. “I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” (King 853-854) King is showing to the audience that he feels they deserve to be free, that they deserve to be treated equal, and they deserve to be known as individuals. He makes his audience feel like his dream is their dream
... oppression blacks faced. King’s appeal to ethos set the stage for other methods of persuasion. By building up this appeal, King was able to establish a common ground between himself and the audience. King delivered an effective appeal to pathos, which in turn evoked an emotional response from the viewers. King also used appeals to logic in order to reason with his audience. By appealing to all three rhetorical elements, pathos, logos, and ethos, King was able to effectively persuade and motivate the audience to achieve equality for all American citizens.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this argument when he proclaims, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”.