Rhetorical Analysis of "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Martin Luther King Jr. incorporates many rhetorical strategies in “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He construes to the Clergymen why he is eager to adjust segregation laws. King relays his contradictions and arguments in a clear, considerate demeanor through the application of ethos, logos, and pathos.
By appealing to ethos, King establishes his credibility and trustworthiness as a writer. King quotes, “We have waited more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights.” This quote alludes to the constitution, the nation’s founding document. This claims the United States is a “free country” and that “all men are created equal.” King’s inference is if we are a free country, then why isn’t our country granting “all men” their freedom. This stresses that the wait for freedom needs to end and the American Negroes need their rights granted to them. He alludes to God and the God-given rights stated in the bible which expresses that God loves and treats all his children the same. King’s interpreted question is: if God loves everyone the same, then why does it seem as if the whites are loved more and treated better than the Negroes. God’s rights are the most important that make up the natural and moral laws of the nation. The quantity of 340 years adds emphasis to the anticipated rights of the American Negroes. The origin of the quote, “justice too long delayed is justice denied” is controversial, however, King’s reference to this quote shows that he is a credible writer. The reference shows parallelism by the repetition of the word justice. King argues to the Clergymen that they cannot tell him that his acts are untimely because the Negroes have waited so long that there is not enough patience left. The quote goes along side of...

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... begins to just sound like one constant ring. Imagery, anaphora, and personification are all used to appeal to the Clergymen’s emotions.
Martin Luther King Jr. uses many rhetorical devices to make his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” a masterpiece. He uses ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the Clergymen in a credible and trustworthy manner, appealing to the logic and reasoning behind his arguments, and to appeal the Clergymen's emotions. King uses other rhetorical devices that support his appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos that add effects to the letter. Other devices he uses include: allusions, parallelism, illness and health contrast, irony, imagery, anaphora, and personification. He creates a complex writing that respectfully, but critically corrects the Clergymen's statements from their letter to King entitled “Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen”.