Rhetorical Analysis Of Mlk Letter From Birmingham Jail

Improved Essays
"Justice too long delayed is justice denied." “Letter From Birmingham Jail” was written to religious authorities. MLK is writing this letter to explain his reason for civil disobedience. He justifies his acts by explaining how the oppressed can not stay oppressed. Martin Luther King incorporates a medley of syntax and figurative language in order to justify the non-violent protests against racism. MLK uses anaphora and parallelism in order to express the need for civil disobedience. In his letter Martin Luther King Jr acknowledges how "It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative." MLK is trying to express …show more content…
It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” This apostrophe helps MLK show segregation from the African American’s point of view, by explaining how segregation damages them as people and makes them feel inferior while the caucasian people feel superior. By using this apostrophe MLK is able to bring guilt out of his audience since he is using the feelings of the African Americans to justify their acts of civil disobedience. MLK also uses imagery in order to help bring the letter to life by painting pictures in the reader’s minds. “For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." Here MLK is using sound imagery; he is using the loud piercing sound, almost like an alarm bell, to the word “wait.” He is conveying how the word “wait” is painful to hear for African Americans since they have been waiting and change still hasn’t come. MLK is using this sound image in order to show that there will be no more waiting and it is time for them to fight back. In order to create pathos these forms of figurative language are crucial since they

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Martin Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham jail was a detailed letter explaining the motives and emotion behind the non-violent protests that took place in the South. As a result of these protests, a few white religious leaders criticized the actions of Dr. King and those encouraging the non-violent campaigns. The purpose of this letter was to respond to criticism made by these leaders. In the letter Dr. King expounded on four of the leaders’ comments. He responded to the comments regarding the untimeliness of the campaigns, the willingness of the campaigners to break laws, the allegation that the campaigns triggered violence, and the description of the campaigns as extreme.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In MLK’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, he utilizes figurative language to emphasize that politicians only focus was to keep the status quo. In this time in history, the fight for equal rights for blacks was a major topic, especially in the south. The slow changes happening through the courts also left the black community frustrated.…

    • 140 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In April of 1963, when segregation was at its peak, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was jailed for his civil rights efforts in Alabama. A few days after Kings’ arrest, a group of 8 local white clergymen got together and criticized his protests. While in his jail cell, King replied to the ministers as well as to the white middle class by writing his response on the margins of a newspaper and on toilet paper. He excels in the structure of his letter and the usage of pathos, ethos, and logos to protect him in the dispute. From his creditability of being the President of the SCLC, to the emotional appeal to the white moderate, all the way to the logical persuasion he uses by reasoning, King justifies his desire for racial justice.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analyzing Mlk's Speech

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages

    MLK uses the emotions and wills of the audience to rally his cause by people’s sense of righteousness with an uplifting and unifying tone. These aspects are especially present in his usage of antithesis and pathos. On page 6, on it’s 21st and 22nd lines, MLK says that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. This line of antithesis is used as a means of rallying people.…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, leader in the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., powerfully replies to criticisms regarding his cause and his actions. King’s purpose is to prove to his criticizers that his cause is right and just. He adopts a condemnatory tone in order to convey his disapproval with the clergymen’s criticisms and excuses. It’s Dr. King’s strong use of diction that has the greatest impact on making this piece so powerful and effective.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Martin Luther King’s, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the majority of the text is persuasive using rhetoric appeals. The main purpose of this letter was to address the critiques of the eight ministers and one rabbi that targeted the peaceful demonstrations as well as argue his perspective about the demonstration as well as bring up existing issues that needs to be subjected to change. This section revolves around the harsh treatment of the African American community which had the strongest argument because it mainly focused on describing the cruel acts that were committed during this time due to racism and segregation. The strongest rhetoric appeal used in this letter was pathos because it changed the perspective of others because it affects their emotions which make paragraph fourteen the most persuasive.…

    • 1449 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. led the way towards the end of racial segregation by his irrepressible drive to achieve social change. During his lifetime he endured many acts of discrimination to which he responded by peaceful protest and strong pieces of writing. One example is his letter written after his imprisonment in Birmingham jail because of a coordinated march against segregation. The purpose of his letter was to respond to the clergymen that labeled the march unwise. Martin Luther King uses ethos, logos, and pathos to argue to the clergyman that the strategy of peaceful resistance against discrimination is necessary.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the letter, King repeatedly states that the Negro community can wait no longer and that they have “waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    King informs the clergymen about how it feels to be a Black citizen and how they live under “ominous clouds of inferiority” (176). By using such diction, he is expressing the emotions of the Blacks and how they feel they are misrepresented by many. It shows why Blacks are holding direct demonstrations as they cannot wait for justice any longer. The clergymen describes this fight for justice as “untimely” in which King refutes this claim by discussing how their justice is being delayed as they are always being told to “wait”. King goes on to argue how Blacks no longer want to live in an “abyss of despair” (177) and how they are sick of being the “oppressed.”…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this passage, John Lewis emphasizes the word "Be patient" meaning there would be a time where the African Americans will get their civil rights but would have to wait. For instance, in the text, John Lewis states “We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now! We are tired. We are sick of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King addresses many controversial issues that were a problem during his time and that continue to be an issue in our lives today. A few examples of these issues being police brutality, racism, and discrimination of races. Even after about 53 years, White and African Americans continue to bicker over racial issues. The issue that this essay will focus on is the withholding of African American freedom as well as discrimination and racism which are shown through the use of pathos, logos, and imagery. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed,” implying that those in power, would never give up…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American that lived and fought through racial oppression. He was one of the most well known leaders of nonviolent protests. Being a minority trying to persuade the privilege that it’s time for change is a tough job. In King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” has many components that are crucial to catching the audience attention and proving a point. In this letter Martin Luther King Jr. was responding back to rude comments that clergymen made about him and the protesting.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, argued to his equality supporting peers that non-violent and instigative protests, while not as dignified as court battles, were fundamentally more potent and provocative. King successfully produced an appealing and effective message by integrating pathos and logos, utilizing faith based ethos, suitable literary devices, and a unique subtle tone that allowed him to maintain even-tempered and reasonable appeal in subject he was passionate and infuriated about. King wins the credibility of his peers by, firstly establishing they are his peers. He reminds them of his position as a reverend by citing the Alabama clergymen as “fellow clergymen”. Referring to his position as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and his invitation not Birmingham, he further established credibility by highlighting he is not merely a reverend creating social upheaval but a revered civic and religious leader whose presence is desired by the people of the city.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is an excellent example of an effective argument; it was written in response to an editorial addressing the issue of Negro demonstrations and segregation in Alabama at the time.…

    • 1875 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Superior Essays