Letter from a Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

Letter from a Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

THESIS: In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King specifically answers eight white Alabama Clergymen while also taking into account the ears of the city, state and country, as a whole, who might hear his declaration in order to rationalize his intentions while also invoking these audiences to see the brutal consequences of unfair inequalities that engulf the city of Birmingham, during the 1860s, in strident flames of injustice.

FIRST POINT OF ANALYSIS: An erudite rhetorical choice King makes is to establish pathos through use of figurative language.

Textual evidence: Paragraph fourteen is arguably his most prominent use of pathos, referring back to his haunting experiences all the while using anaphora to accredit himself and to counter argue his fellow Clergymen's assertion that the peaceful protests against segregation are "unwise and untimely." Stating "… when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading ‘white' and ‘colored'… when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness'—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."

Textual evidence: King insists via the metaphor, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly," the delicate balance of equality is fragile and it "gives the segregator a false sense of superiority" while giving the "segregated a false sense of inferiority."

Commentary: Through his use of figurative language, King craftily establishes pathos and effectively acknowledges counter arguments made by the Clergymen.

SECOND POINT OF ANALYSIS: Another choice King makes is to reason morally or, in other words, establish logos.

Textual evidence: King recognizes the counterargument of the Clergymen "You [Alabama Clergymen] may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?"" and then states "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." noting the tension he is creating is all part of a bigger plan that few of them can comprehend due to their dogmatic, preexisting opinions.

Textual evidence: King argues that "segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and awful." which goes on to further his point by using a sort of common sense, in turn, making his reasoning black and white.

Commentary: King's impeccably clear and morally reasoned arguments allow for the audience to see an unbiased glimpse into his opinions on iniquity at the current time period without the blurry smudges of people who distort his ideas and intentions; thus creating logos.

THIRD POINT