Consequently, King fabricates logos as he urges African-Americans to demand justice from their oppressors, an issue that directly affects everyone across the nation: not just those in specific areas. In this way, King juxtaposes his perspective with that of the clergy to demonstrate the depravity of his oppressors. King has explained this through many examples of racial situations, factual and logical reasoning, and . Despite this, the clergy never questions whether or not segregation is unjust. Just as well, King uses his aspirations to create ideas within the listeners. While the Civil Rights movement superseded the dismantling of Jim Crow, the social ideologies and lackadaisical legislature behind anti-black prejudice continued to rack the country far into the 1960s. Both lincolns Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech are similar in that they both express the concept of freedom to achieve their purpose. Here, King concedes that the clergy acts with the virtuous goal of justice in mind, which allows him to establish his argument against the manner in which they seek equality. Bitzer, Lloyd F. The Rhetorical Situation. Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. 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. He goes on to add; I am in Birmingham because injustice is here (King 1). Order original paper now and save your time! The eight clergymen in Birmingham released a public statement of caution regarding the protesters actions as unwise and untimely (King 1), to which Martins letter is a direct response. Laws should build up society to be better so that a law is not need to be enforced and people will still follow it. 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. Some clergymen, mostly white American men, believe the nonviolent protest Dr. King and African Americans were during was "unwise" and "untimely". 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. 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. Dr. King was considered the most prominent and persuasive man of The Civil Rights Movement. 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 . 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. Dr. King fought against segregation between Black Americans and White Americans. He wrote the letter in response to criticisms made by white clergymen. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. 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. But immediately after Dr. King speaks out on how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the free will that is deserved. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a civil rights activist that fought for the rights of African Americans in 1963. Ethically most people believe that it is necessary to keep a promise. 114, Jr., Martin Luther King. King provides imagery to make the audience see what it would be like to be an African American in the united, 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. Dr. King also states that one day he would like his children to be free as whites were. 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). In A Letter From A Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. 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. 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. He had a great impact on race relations in the U.S. and he made a great impact on many lives. This wait has almost always meant never (King 2). In order to do this, Martin Luther King uses several techniques in paragraph thirteen and fourteen of his letter such as repetition, personification, as well as allusion, to support his claim that racial unity has taken too long. Similarly, King uses pathos to trigger the emotional . 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. 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. His audience ranged between those who his message empowered, a radical positive force, and those who disagreed, made up of southern states, extremist groups, and the majority of American citizens stuck in their racial prejudices. 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. Later in the letter, parallelism is used to contrast just laws and unjust laws. Therefore this makes people see racism in a whole new light; racism has not been justified because the United States have failed to uphold their promises. Example: Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? 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. Martin Luther King Jr. twists the perspective of his audience -- Southern clergymen -- to create antithetic parallelism in Letter from Birmingham Jail. Martin Luther in Birmingham Jail, The Atlantic. This evidence, revealing MLKs use of pathos, was used to reach out to the emotional citizens who have either experienced or watched police brutality. 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. King concludes with optimism about the future of the relationship between the currently segregated blacks and whites. You may use it as a guide or sample for writing your own . I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. In the Gettysburg Address Lincoln talks about how people fought the war and how people should honor their soldiers. 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. However, the racial divide was legislated in 1877 with the implementation of Jim Crow laws, which lasted until 1950. and may encompass the audience, as seen while analysing, The audience of a rhetorical piece will shape the rhetoric the author uses in order to appeal, brazen, or educate whoever is exposed. In each writing, he uses the devices for many different purposes. " Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." To get a high-quality original essay, click here. While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were both two African American civil rights activists who were very prominent throughout history. By stating the obvious point and implying that moderates act as though this was not true, he accuses them of both hypocrisy and injustice. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims. He was able to further interact with the audience; they were able to hear his voice, listen to the intended tone behind his words, see his face, and study his demeanor in the face of adversary. Both influential speeches rely heavily on rhetorical devices to convey their purpose. Get professional help and free up your time for more important things. These circumstances lead us to our next rhetorical focus: audience. 1, Penn State University Press, 1968, pp. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King implements antithesis -- along with his background as a minister -- to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Southern clergymen, as he attempts to further diverge the two diametric rationales; thus, he creates logos as he appeals to the audience's logical side and urges African-Americans to act punctual in their Malcolm X, on the other hand, grew up in a rather hostile environment with barely enough schooling. 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. Found a perfect sample but need a unique one? However, Martin Luther King Jr is an extremely influential figure in the field of oration and rhetoric. 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). Specifically he targeted the clergymen who made laws at that time. With his respectful nature, humility, compassion, optimism, and determination, King responded to a group of white Alabama clergymen who had condemned the civil rights protests as extreme in their open letter, A Call for Unity. Although his letter was directed towards a small group of eight men, his words eventually reached the minds and hearts of the entire country. One of the challenges that he faced included being criticized because of what he believed in concerning the laws of segregation. 1, no. Parallelism/ Juxtaposition. There isn't quite as much of that in "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but it still pops up a couple of times. He is a firm believer that Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere (262). 262). An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral law. 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. Without King, America would be probably still heavily segregated. To achieve this, he used rhetorical strategies such as appeal to pathos and repetition. In the letter, King appeals for unity against racism in society, while he wants to fight for Human Rights, using ethos. He needed something, that special something, that would ignite the fire that had somehow died out. 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. 1, no. Identify the parallel structures in the following sentence from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and explain their effect. 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. 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. 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. It was important for King to address this audience as their support would ultimately make the largest difference in the movement. King wants to bring to the readers realization the fact that laws are only to be followed when they are rightfully just and correct. Not only does he use pathos to humanize himself, but he also uses it to humanize his immediate audience, the eight clergymen. In Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King responds to the subjectivity of law and the issue he paramounts by using precise and impactful rhetoric from inside of his jail cell. In Kings speech he. His audience ranged between those who his message empowered, a radical positive force, and those who disagreed, made up of southern states, extremist groups, and the majority of American citizens stuck in their racial prejudices. Lastly, the exigence of a rhetorical piece is the external issue, situation, or event in which the rhetoric is responding to. 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. He also wants the readers to realize that negroes are not to be mistreated and that the mistreatment of negroes could have severe implications as in a violent protest against the laws made by the court. Ultimately, King crafts antithetic parallelism to establish a logical structure that emphasizes logos in his argument: the timeliness of justice. Early in his speech, King writes riches of freedom and security of justice and then justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. In these two examples, King is using parallelism to express that the African American wants justice and freedom by repeating them next to each other and mentally connecting them in the readers mind, which is also connected with pathos as the terms King uses subtly emphasize those words and create good feelings in the reader. Martin Luther Kings "letter from Birmingham Jail" strives to justify the desperate need for nonviolent direct action, the absolute immorality of unjust laws together with what a just law is.