Literary Devices In Letter From Birmingham Jail

Imagine life for a person who exists in this world, who deserves the right to live; however, that person is persecuted, dehumanized, and humiliated by others because of their ‘differences’ in appearance. This is defined as racism. To put an end to this outrageous, Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, was well-known for his nonviolent movement to bring justice and an end to segregation of the people in the United States began in the 1950s, just like Rosa Parks and many others. Dr. King was the leader of many peaceful protests, which unfortunately initially failed to bring equality to black people. At one point, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was confined in the Birmingham city jail for his nonviolent protest. In addition, he was labeled as an “outsider” who was hateful and violent, and his “unwise and untimely” actions disordered the community from the Public Statement by eight Alabama clergymen ("Public Statement.”). …show more content…
His letter became a universal justice, not just only to the clergymen. To analyze his points, King used three powerful literary devices: pathos, ethos, and logos to …show more content…
In the first open statement, King took the advantage of his situation to appeal to readers’ pathos, the use of an emotional appeal, by saying, “While confined here in Birmingham city jail, I came across…” to let the readers know that even though he was locked “solitary confinement”, he still managed to find pieces of scratch paper on the dirty jail floor to speak up for himself. This is a metaphor for the life of the Negro people and that blacks were living a life