Kings use of pathos gives him the ability to encourage his fellow civil rights activists, evoke empathy in white conservatives, and allow the eight clergymen and the rest of his national audience to feel compassion towards the issue. Bitzer, Lloyd F. The Rhetorical Situation. Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. Lastly, King is constrained by his medium. Additionally, as he confesses to the clergy, King employs antithesis to create a rational structure that fosters logos: I agree I cant agree; small in quantity big in quality and shattered dreams hope (521 & 524-525). Martin Luther King Jr. was an American baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in 1954. In this essay, King also brings up why he is justified in his preaching about the separation of African-Americans and white people. Parallelism takes many forms in literature, such as anaphora, antithesis, asyndeton, epistrophe, etc. In Martin Luther King Jrs I Have a Dream speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. This exigence is rhetorical because it can be improved if enough people are socially cognizant, whether that be in legislature or the streets of Birmingham, through creation and enforcement of equitable laws and social attitudes. With his respectful nature, humility, compassion, optimism, and determination, King responded to a group of white Alabama clergymen who had condemned the civil rights protests as extreme in their open letter, A Call for Unity. Although his letter was directed towards a small group of eight men, his words eventually reached the minds and hearts of the entire country. King's main thesis in writing the Birmingham letter is that, racial segregation, or injustice to the black American society, is due to the continuous encouragement of the white American society, particularly the powerful communities in politics and religions. , Atlantic Media Company, 29 Jan. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/. It managed to inspire a generation of blacks to never give up and made thousands of white Americans bitterly ashamed of their actions, forging a new start for society. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a famous speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and freedom, this speech was called I have a dream. This speech was focused on ending racism and equal rights for African Americans during the civil rights movement. In paragraph 15 of his "Letter from Birmingham Jail", Martin Luther King uses. This audience is rhetorical as the social and political ideologies of the American people fuel democracy and are able to change the system around them through collective effort. Repetitions help the writer give structure to his arguments and highlight important aspects. While in his cell, he composed the famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. This wait has almost always meant never (King 2). Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960s and hes very deserving of that title as seen in both his I Have a Dream speech and his Letter from Birmingham Jail letter. He had a great impact on race relations in the U.S. and he made a great impact on many lives. Dr. King brought people up and gave them hope that one day everything will be taken care of and we 'll all be happy, he said that one day we 'll have peace and love among each other. Throughout the Letter from Birmingham Jail, ethos, pathos, and logos are masterfully applied by Martin Luther King. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. Dr. King uses his own words to describe what he wants the nation to look like in the future. Letter From Birmingham Jail One of the most famous documents in American history is the 1963 letter written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from his jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama. "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Analysis. His masterful delivery of these metaphors and the frequent repetition makes the speech much like a poem or a part of a song. The topic of Dr. Kings letters from a Birmingham prison is the nonviolent protest being done in Birmingham, Alabama in the fight for African Americans civil rights. Dr. King repeats the same starting words when you have seen with different examples of injustices. There are people in the white community that are already standing hand-in-hand with them and their dreams. Lincoln states, We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. What he says means that the soldiers lost their lives to give us freedom. In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail", written by Martin Luther King Jr., King delivers a well structured response to eight clergymen who had accused him of misuse of the law. Dr. King was arrested, and put in jail in Birmingham where he wrote a letter to the clergymen telling them how long Blacks were supposed to wait for their God giving rights and not to be force and treated differently after, In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail from jail in Birmingham, Alabama in response to a public statement issued by eight white clergyman calling his actions unwise and untimely. There isn't quite as much of that in "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but it still pops up a couple of times. Despite his support, Martin Luthers audience is one of the largest constraints in his rhetorical situation. " A just law is man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of the god. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. As example, King uses I have a dream that one day and Let freedom ring.. to open his points on how Americans should change against racial indifferences. In Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was this line, "We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right." King was the leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement as well as an activist for humanitarian causes. Macbeth) in the essay title portion of your citation. Lines 14-43: King provides three different types of reasons in his letter to justify his presence in Birmingham: Organizational reasons, religious or historical reasons, and moral reasons. In addressing and confronting the problem of injustices among the black Americans in the American society, particularly the violence that had happened in Birmingham, and, Martin Luther King Jr. faced many challenges during his life. He wanted this letter to encourage and bring up a people that will start a revolution. King is saying that if we allow injustice to happen in some places, we risk it happening to everyone. Martin Luther Kings Letter From Birmingham Jail is undeniably effective at responding to the rhetorical situation at hand. He takes up for his cause in Birmingham, and his belief that nonviolent direct action is the best way to make changes happen. As campaigning, King uses it in his speech in order to express all his points. Required fields are marked *. In paragraphs 33 to 44 of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s response to A Call for Unity, a declaration by eight clergymen, Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963), he expresses that despite his love for the church, he is disappointed with its lack of action regarding the Civil Rights Movement. King strategically persuades. When teaching speeches and letters, it's helpful to refresh or introduce students to literary elements that enhance rhetorical strategies. Without King, America would be probably still heavily segregated. Some clergymen, mostly white American men, believe the nonviolent protest Dr. King and African Americans were during was "unwise" and "untimely". Saying it that way magnifies the imperative difference between the two types of laws. King uses parallelism to add balance and rhythm to his rhetoric. Choose one type of reason and cite an example from these lines. While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Its important to note that his initial readers/supporters greatly impacted the scope of his audience, spreading the letter through handouts, flyers, and press, in the hopes that others would be impacted for the better by the weight of the exigence at hand. Within the article, the clergymen provide nine different critiques that asserted how Kings protest are invalid, uneffective, and simply unintelligent in the fight for obtaining justice and equity for individuals of color. These "parallel" elements can be used to intensify the rhythm of language, or to draw a comparison, emphasize, or elaborate on an idea. Martin Luther King, more than any other figure, shaped American life from the mid-"'"50s to the late "'"60s. In Letter From Birmingham Jail, the exigence is the continued condemnation, segregation, and prejudice afflicted against African Americans since the emancipation of the slaves in 1863. Order can only be held for so long whilst injustice is around. But immediately after Dr. King speaks out on how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the free will that is deserved. It was important for King to address this audience as their support would ultimately make the largest difference in the movement. parallelism really etches into the audience's mind the seemingly never-ending hardships blacks face and the repetition makes it seem like a regular routine they endure. His Letter from Birmingham Jail is a work that he wrote while incarcerated in the Birmingham City Jail in response to criticism from Alabama clergymen. He uses parallelism by repeating I had hoped to ironically accuse his attackers. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with many other civil activist, began a campaign to change the laws and the social attitudes that caused such a disparity. King had been arrested while participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march although several local religious groups counted on King for support. Wiki User 2013-03-13 02:55:46 Study now See answer (1) Copy "One has not only legal but moral responsibility to obey just. Although Dr. Kings exploits are revered today, he had opponents that disagreed with the tactics he employed. In sum, all rhetoric has an external situation in which it is responding to. Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail addresses his fellow clergymen and others who critiqued him for his actions during this time. He writes how the white church is often disappointed in the African Americans lack of patience and how they are quick to be willing to break laws. However King also deliberately wrote his letter for a national audience. Yes he does criticize the white clergymen but basically he is trying to tell them that they should stop this segregation and that the black are not to be mistreated. Both their speeches, I Have a Dream and The Ballot or the Bullet may have shared some common traits, but at the same time, differed greatly in various aspects. These purposes can be similar, or different. His use of diction and syntax would align his mission to Gods, and show that he was in the right and the clergymen were in the wrong. During this period in the 1960s, King was disappointed by the way the white clergy was not in support of the religious civil rights movement and Kings goal of equality as a whole. King spins the constraining pressure to properly represent the movement on its head, using his rhetoric to uplift the underprivileged and leave no room in his language for criticism, proven by the continuous adoption of his messages by the public. While in solitary confinement for nearly 8 days, reverend and social justice activist, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail in response to the criticism he received for his non-violent protests. He is placing hope among the Negro community and assuring the white superiority that one day, they will share the same rights as their nation distinctively promised a hundred years earlier. Read along here: https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.htmlop audio here: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/lett. This use of parallelism draws on the emotions of personal experiences to persuade that segregation is a problem in a myriad of ways. He begins strongly by explaining why he is in Birmingham in the first place, stating, So I am herebecause we were invited here. Throughout the work, Letter from Bimingham Jail, Martin Luther constantly uses examples from historical figures in order to unite his argument that action must be taken in order to end discrimination and segregation. In 1963, while Martin Luther King was in Birmingham Jail, King delivered a powerful letter to his Clergymen in order to take time and respond to the criticism he had received over his work in Birmingham. Active Themes. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. Parallelism In Letters From Birmingham Jail 172 Words1 Page Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos and parallelism frequently throughout "Letters from Birmingham Jail," to persuade the clergyman to support his actions in the civil rights movement. The letter from the Birmingham jail of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Parallelism, in the way King uses it, connects what seems like small problems to a larger issue. 1, no. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. He had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress (King 267). Martin Luther found himself arrested on the twelfth of April 1963 after leading a peaceful protest throughout Birmingham, Alabama after he defied a state courts injunction and led a march of black protesters without a permit, urging an Easter boycott of white-owned stores (Jr., Martin Luther King). Repetition. He evokes emotion on his audience by discussing the trials and injustice African Americans have endured. The anaphora "If you were to" is meant to inspire his readers to emp. " Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." Letter from a Birmingham Jail AP.GOPO: PRD1.A (LO) , PRD1.A.2 (EK) Google Classroom Full text of "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. 16 April 1963 My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." King says on page. Identify the parallel structures in the following sentence from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and explain their effect. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. This letter serves as a purpose to apply the need for love and brotherhood towards one another and avoid all the unjust laws. Parallelism is useful to emphasize things and ideas to the audience, which, like all the other tropes and schemes. While the Civil Rights movement superseded the dismantling of Jim Crow, the social ideologies and lackadaisical legislature behind anti-black prejudice continued to rack the country far into the 1960s. King addressed these communities as the primary groups wherein racial segregation is continuously proliferated (the white American political and religious community) and points much of his arguments to and for his fellow black Americans in the society. His writing is respectful and educated, if not naturally, to invalidate the use of his race against him by the largely prejudiced audience. Despite his support, Martin Luthers audience is one of the largest constraints in his rhetorical situation. 114, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733. Martin Luther King Jr. uses both logical and emotional appeals in order for all his listeners to be able to relate and contemplate his speeches. Your email address will not be published. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Abused and scorned through we may be, our destiny is tied with the destiny of America. (Page 9) The sureness King presents in this quote both instills hope in the reader and allows them to relate to Kings passion. He hopes that "[o]ne day the South will know that [the Negroes] were in reality standing up for the best in the American dream" (47), and that "the evil system of segregation" (46) will come to an end. As mentioned before, the social and political ideologies in America surrounding racial equity at this time, specifically in Birmingham, were extremely poor. Later in the letter, parallelism is used to contrast just laws and unjust laws. On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and nearly 50 other protestors and civil rights leaders were arrested after leading a Good Friday demonstration as part of the . These circumstances lead us to our next rhetorical focus: audience. King goes on to write that he is disappointed that white moderates care less about justice and more about order. King implies that one day, all, I Have a Dream, however, played a major step into changing it. The letter is a plea to both white and black Americans to encourage desegregation and to encourage equality among all Americans, both black and white, along all social, political and religious ranks, clearly stating that there should be no levels of equality based upon racial differences., In Letter from Birmingham Jail, author Martin Luther King Jr. confirms the fact that human rights must take precedence over unjust laws. Ralph Abernathy (center) and the Rev. While his letter was only addressed to the clergymen, it is safe to assume that King had intent on the public eventually reading his letter, considering his position within the Civil Rights movement, use of persuasive rhetorical language, and hard-hitting debates on the justification of law. This protest, his subsequent arrest, and the clergymens public statement ostensibly make up the rhetorical exigence, but it truly stems from a much larger and dangerous situation at hand: the overwhelming state of anti-black prejudice spread socially, systematically, and legislatively in America since the countrys implementation of slavery in Jamestown, 1619. This protest, his subsequent arrest, and the clergymens public statement ostensibly make up the rhetorical exigence, but it truly stems from a much larger and dangerous situation at hand: the overwhelming state of anti-black prejudice spread socially, systematically, and legislatively in America since the countrys implementation of slavery in Jamestown, 1619. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. However, the racial divide was legislated in 1877 with the implementation of Jim Crow laws, which lasted until 1950. In this way, King juxtaposes his perspective with that of the clergy to demonstrate the depravity of his oppressors. Martin Luther in Birmingham Jail, The Atlantic. These encompass his exigence, at its most simple and precise, and validify the importance behind transforming the country in a positive way. His expressive language and use of argumentation make his case strong and convincing. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. Laws should build up society to be better so that a law is not need to be enforced and people will still follow it. However, in the months that followed, Kings powerful words were distributed to the public through civil rights committees, the press, and was even read in testimony before Congress (Letter from Birmingham Jail), taking the country by storm. He displays a great amount of pathos, logos, and ethos in his speech. In sum, all rhetoric has an external situation in which it is responding to. King was the figurehead of the Civil Rights movement, infamous for his I Have a Dream speech and substantially impactful rhetoric promoting social and political change, peaceful indignation, and calls to awareness. The problem is that this kind of thinking can spread and infect other people to believe this is acceptable. Any subject. Furthermore, Dr. King had four steps to achieve his goals by collecting facts, negotiation, self-purification, and direct, Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a response to Dr. King's follow clergymen criticism. Although Kings reply was addressed to the Alabama clergyman, its target audience was the white people. King's letter from Birmingham Jail addresses the American society, particularly the political and religious community of the American society. Lastly, the exigence of a rhetorical piece is the external issue, situation, or event in which the rhetoric is responding to. They were arrested and held in . The law was written in 1962, but the powerful response pushed the courts to finalize their decision. There may have been advantages to broadcasting this message similarly to his I Have a Dream speech, which touched America deeply, due potentially to the accessible, instantaneous, and widespread coverage in American media. King is not speaking only of racism; he is speaking of injustice in general. The use of pathos is effective because it appeals to emotions and the issue of civil rights and civil disobedience. He died in 1968. Despite this, the clergy never questions whether or not segregation is unjust. All of these factors influence each other to shape rhetoric, which Bitzer describes as, pragmatic; it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself (3), with Martin Luther Kings. However, they each have different ideas about freedom, and about what they want their audience to do. In Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King responds to the subjectivity of law and the issue he paramounts by using precise and impactful rhetoric from inside of his jail cell. King responds with complete confidence that he is in the right place at the right time, and that his actions are necessary. While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. , 29 May 2019, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail. While his letter was only addressed to the clergymen, it is safe to assume that King had intent on the public eventually reading his letter, considering his position within the Civil Rights movement, use of persuasive rhetorical language, and hard-hitting debates on the justification of law. African Americans have been waiting to have there civil rights of freedom, but the social courts has requested them not protest on the street but to take it to court. He writes of his own problems that may apply to the daily struggles of the abused African, Parallelism In Speech From Birmingham Jail, Throughout the speech, another scheme King uses frequently is parallelism, the strategy of repeating similar clauses, several times. MLKs use of pathos and repetition is an effective way to persuade his audience about his position on civil disobedience. At this time, he is representative of the Black American population and the Civil Rights Movement as a whole he is Martin Luther King Jr., and while this is a powerful position to occupy, the constraints imposed are just as dominant. The way Dr. King constructs his argument is as if he was preaching his argument to his congregation. To minimize the possibility of being deemed invalid due to his race, he must choose what he states and how he states it very precisely which correlates to the constraints Martin Luther himself has on his rhetorical situation. The law was written in 1962, but the powerful response pushed the courts to finalize their decision. Malcolm X, on the other hand, grew up in a rather hostile environment with barely enough schooling. Fred Shuttlesworth, defied an injunction against protesting on Good Friday in 1963. King provides imagery to make the audience see what it would be like to be an African American in the united, I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal. Dr. King also states that one day he would like his children to be free as whites were. It elucidated the exigence behind his letter as his presented rationale behind his arrest only made unjust laws appear more asinine and questionable by relation. What are some examples of parallelism in letter from Birmingham jail? To summarize, Martin Luther Kings rhetoric is effective and ultimately changed the course of the Civil Rights movement for the better. Even now, it continues to make generations of people, not just Americans, to give up their racist beliefs and advocate social colorblindness. Back then, people were ready to oppose unjust laws that were causing inequality and preventing progress. Overall, King is saying that we need to fight against injustice anywhere we see it,, In April of 1963, while incarcerated in Birmingham City jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an influential letter defending his anti-segregation protests. 'Letter from Birmingham Jail'"' is a clearly written essay that explains the reasons behind, and the methods of nonviolent civil disobedience, and gently expresses King's disappointment with those who are generally supportive of equal rights for African-Americans. His writing is respectful and educated, if not naturally, to invalidate the use of his race against him by the largely prejudiced audience. In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King typically uses repetition in the form of anaphora - repeating the same word (s) at the beginning of consecutive clauses. SophAbs. MarkAHA. 262). In order to properly convey his response to the questions proposed by the religious leaders of Birmingham, Dr. King uses it to draw comparisons which magnifies an idea, but it also commends one and disparages the other.
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