Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Letter from Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter titled Letter from Birmingham Jail in the year 1963. The period was marked by occasional feuds between whites and blacks over fair treatment for the two American races. The word “Negro” and King Jr.’s appeal for black Americans’ rights confirm the moment (King 566). The letter’s central message is that King wishes to persuade the people and clergy that the protests were as necessary as they were unavoidable at the time. Readers of his work strongly agree with King, owing to his compelling rhetoric and condemnatory vocabulary. King does not only use both logos and pathos to provide the validity of his arguments, but he also utilizes ethos to manifest his true focus throughout the document.

King’s Use of Logos and Ethos

By making a counterargument, King particularly uses logos against the clergyman. Indeed, he justifies that he and his followers had exhausted all options, and the only remainder was mass action. He goes ahead and cites concrete evidence to support his stand. He uses historical information to affirm the need for the demonstrations (King 567). By engaging the fallacy of argumentum ad hominem, King appeals to authority, one Thomas Jefferson that all men were created equal and hence the need for the abolition of discrimination practices. Such fallacies make his arguments logical, and he further utilizes many examples to justify his intuition to his audience.

Other than effectively maximizing on logos, King too exploits the effects of ethos in his work. He restrains himself within morality, knowledge, and reason. His ability to engage logic and reason is witnessed when he asserts he could weight no more, after having waited for 340 years for his legitimately God-given freedom. He again alludes to the heinous acts of Hitler in German as legal and the freedom fighters persecuted for their advocacy for fundamental human rights, hence intriguing his audience to see how justice is denied of the just (King 568). Indeed, King is morally upright because he chooses peaceful demonstrations, despite the enemy’s oppression, as he claims the oppressor will learn the art of brotherhood in the demonstrators’ harmless behavior. Furthermore, his morality escalates to unmatched levels when he states his core agenda is for everybody to remain one to the rest, and that peace must prevail.

Pathos and Emotional Appeal

Pathos is the last element of rhetoric King strategically uses to pass across his message. He creates a situation, whereby somebody’s child asks them whether she or he can attend a public park outing, and the parent answers his child that it is not possible, because they are of the race of color, compelling the child to cry (King 568). This scenario radiates a spectrum of deep emotional sublimation, whose Effects are diminished hope in life. Normally, people cannot understand why children can be denied basic exposure by the authorities. Hence King’s use of this analogy makes his audience sad. The cloud of despondency makes the reader join King in his arguments, so the rights of the weak, the less fortunate, and the prejudice could be guaranteed. His adjectives are acutely compelling, and his description of the tears down the cheeks of the angry child charges the crowd behind him for the demonstration.

Conclusion - King’s Persuasive Rhetoric

Therefore, the general point of view by King is made clear and primarily supported by the rhetoric of logos, pathos, and ethos. He has a prescribed audience to face both the clergy and the offensive authorities. Indeed, his audience must have joined his partisan because of his mastery of the language used, and his unwavering ability to convince the readers that he was right, his rights were denied to him, and that his oppressor was unjustified (King 567). His manner to explore a well-developed essay legitimizes his argument that is was inevitable for the demonstrations then.

Work Cited

King, Luther. “Letter From Birmingham.” JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association XVI (1891): 566–568. Web.