Topic > Analysis of the rhetorical strategies used by Martin Luther King in the Letter from Birmingham Jail

IndexEngaging the white American clergy through biblical referencesThe use of Ethos and Logos in the letterConclusionOne of the historical movements to which Dr. King compares the civil movement for human rights is the movement led by Elijah Mohammad. Elijah Mohammed and Martin Luther King Jr. had extremely similar aspects to their movements and both, in their own ways, contributed much to society. However, the difference between them was that King advocated nonviolent direct action and passive resistance to achieve civil rights, while Elijah Mohammad was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam and advocated more violently, rejecting white Americans as devils of the world. world and preached black supremacy. The reason MLK mentioned Elijah's movement in his letter from Birmingham Jail is to dispute the criticism he has received that his movement is "extreme" and to point out that this is not the case when comparing Negroes who advocate violence while he does exactly the opposite. Furthermore, King also compares himself to the Hungarians in the National Socialist movement led by Hitler. It symbolizes Hitler as the white supremacist who is racist towards blacks and the Hungarians as the blacks who participate in MLK's nonviolent movement against segregation. MLK used that movement as an analogy/example of what is happening in America and comparing it to how similar it is to what was happening in Germany during WWII. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the first paragraph, Martin Luther King Jr. came out with a peaceful and professional tone. The irony in the first paragraph is that King Jr. is in prison with nothing to do and states that if he answered all the disagreements he would be sacrificing time from his job. “If I tried to respond to all the criticism that crossed my desk, my secretaries would be busy with little else during the day and I wouldn't have time for constructive work.” Although King is watched behind bars, he still mentions how committed he is to participating in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation. Engaging White American Clergy Through Biblical References His references to biblical figures stimulate the moral obligations that white clergy have in supporting his motivation just as the leniency and compassion called for by the Bible throughout the book. The ethics and sentiment of scriptural figures and occasions have a solid effect and vitality for readers. Since King is Christian, he uses scriptural figures to indicate strength. In clarifying the contrast between just and unreasonable laws, specifies Saint Thomas Aquinas who said that "an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law", in light of the fact that Saint Thomas Aquinas is a scriptural figure of power for Christians. Similarly, in paragraph 16, King references Paul Tillich, a Christian existentialist scholar, who stated that detachment was a transgression. When King references Tillich, there is a feeling of power towards Tillich. Since Tillich claims that partition is a transgression, King suggests that isolation and segregation are also a crime. Furthermore, King legitimizes his activities against unjust laws by referring to the fact that early Christians did not submit to the unjust laws of the Roman Empire. The clergy have demonstrated that challenges, including any demonstration of communal non-compliance, can lead to savagery and potentially mafia. King employs fewparagraphs to clarify in an orderly and intelligent way the techniques of a peaceful crusade. In paragraph 6, for example, he lays out the four basic steps, each careful and sober. In the following paragraphs, he clarifies the political atmosphere of Birmingham and how he and his local became aware of the people and opportunities in that network. His essential and rational clarification of theory and technique suggests that peaceful battle is the exact opposite of dissent that occurs without respect for the results. The facility pursues work for this situation; the deliberate clarification reflects the efficient procedure that is clarified. Lord clarifies the fundamental standards and procedure of peaceful challenge developments all together for the user to understand his perspective. Regularly a protest sounds loud, irritating and merciless. In any case, King was really trying to point out that he has no goal of eliciting vicious reactions, so his redundancy of peaceful challenges was evident. He wanted to highlight the idea of ​​fighting for one's beliefs and rights, in a peaceful and honorable way. The Use of Ethos and Logos in the Letter In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. begins by arguing his hasty and inauspicious reason through several focuses demonstrated fundamentally through ethos and logos. While it seems polite and fair, it doesn't connect the user to what they are trying to describe about their activities. The long sentence in paragraph 14 is the central issue. Martin Luther King Jr. legitimizes everything he is accomplishing for the equity he seeks. Being a part driven by feelings, it opens up the reader to actually observe his intentions. Like several conversational strategies, emotion captures the audience group in a surprising way. The way he composed the letter leads the group of viewers to broadcast his activities initially for what they need to legitimize as legitimate and then to make them feel why he does it. This intermittent phrase is the quintessential case of structure converging with substance. King emphasizes time and desperation through the redundancy of "when" and the collection of clauses specifying the shameful acts that blacks persevered in. One way to look at the structure is that King begins with ever-widening circumstances “twenty million Negro brothers living in a closed and sealed pen of destitution,” pushes toward ever-closer-to-home cases that include “your baby of six years' girl' and 'your sweetheart and your mother', and concludes with a broader sentiment of the character of a people who are 'tormented by day and haunted by night'. Overall, King uses distinctive details to paint what is basically a progression of vignettes in these subordinate conditions. From the sixteenth paragraph you tend to see from the accompanying entries a layout showing the logos behind it. Martin Luther King Jr. presents his concept of what is simple and unreasonable through the information he has at his disposal. “A just law is a man-made code that agrees with moral law or the law of God.” Clearly we can see that King's letter is based on fact and although some may see it as one-sided or biased, he does not fail to mention the sequence of events that led to his imprisonment and expulsion. A syllogism is a thesis that leads the group of spectators to think something through previously established realities. Martin Luther King Jr. guides the reader to understand why he legitimizes his activities through the way he respects the laws established in the United States of America in the 1950s. King uses many facts and refers to the Bible or famous sayings and even some events that occurred due to the same.