Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there are many opportunities for analysis. Though there are countless ways to analyze this piece of literature, its rhetoric that is most prevalent in this particular selection of writing. Through carefully illustrated allusions and rhetoric, Dr. King effectively addressed and made efforts to the disparity in the socioeconomic problems in America involving people of different races and responded towards the questioning clergymen. Dr. King’s use of rhetorical devices and Aristotle’s ingredients of persuasion successfully manipulated the language used to express his thoughts and intentions. For a piece of writing dominated by emotion and experience to be taken seriously, an author must establish his credibility. Dr. King does just that by speaking of his credentials. This includes Dr. King establishing himself as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, discussing his level of education, and his past experiences with civil rights advocacy. This gives the reader a presumption that the writer is respectful and credible, a writer that they can trust. King also carefully chose his words very carefully, giving him an intellectual appeal from the reader. Though …show more content…
One of these devices is anaphora. This was used in his cited quotation from Winston Churchill reading “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans…” this gives off a very persuasive feel. Repetition is also used in King’s letter in paragraph thirteen where he says that he has “…heard the word ‘wait’” and “have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights”. This puts into play the constitutional law, morals, and the highest religious figure of the Christian religion, a respected figure in the American South, where much of the discrimination was