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He was able to further interact with the audience; they were able to hear his voice, listen to the intended tone behind his words, see his face, and study his demeanor in the face of adversary. Although Kings reply was addressed to the Alabama clergyman, its target audience was the white people. King is not speaking only of racism; he is speaking of injustice in general. Throughout Kings letter, he used various ways of persuasive strategies: pathos, logos, and ethos. All Writers commonly use parallelism when there is a pair or a series of elements, or in the headlines or outlines of a document. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. Letter to Birmingham Jail is a response to a group of Birmingham ministers who voiced negative comments and questioned the civil rights demonstrations Dr. King was leading in Birmingham. 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. Both works utilizes the persuasive techniques of pathos in Dream and logos in Birmingham. Both of the works had a powerful message that brought faith to many. 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. His audience ranged between those who his message empowered, a radical positive force, and those who disagreed, made up of southern states, extremist groups, and the majority of American citizens stuck in their racial prejudices. Your email address will not be published. Furthermore, exterior events regarding the movement could ultimately reflect on his influence and polarize the audience further. King strategically persuades. Consequently, Birmingham became the core of the Civil Rights movement, pumping the life-blood of social change into the rest of the country. When King was making his mark in American history, the United States was experiencing great social unrest due to the injustice towards their colored citizens, which would lead to social rights rallies and unnecessary violence. In the letter, Dr. King uses ethos, diction, and allusions when defending nonviolent protest which makes his argument really strong. the exigence is the continued condemnation, segregation, and prejudice afflicted against African Americans since the emancipation of the slaves in 1863. 262). "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Allusion Essay. : "There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community." . 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. The continuous mistreatment of African Americans for over a century was, at last, deeply questioned and challenged nationwide with the growing popularity of the Civil Rights movement, and the topic of equality for all had divided the country. The eight clergymen in Birmingham released a public statement of caution regarding the protesters actions as unwise and untimely (King 1), to which Martins letter is a direct response. 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. Another instance of parallelism in the letter is, We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people(Barnet and Bedau 745). King had been arrested while participating in a peaceful anti-segregation march although several local religious groups counted on King for support. '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. They were arrested and held in . The letter was written April third, 1963, it was published for the public in June of the same year, a slower spread than a nationwide address on television or radio. 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. Letter From Birmingham Jail and use of Parallel Structure and Anaphora Kirtan Patel Chapter 25 Chapter 24 Parallel Structure- repetition of the same pattern of words or phrases within a sentence or passage to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. 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. 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. Fred Shuttlesworth, defied an injunction against protesting on Good Friday in 1963. Macbeth) in the essay title portion of your citation. 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. In his letter King effectively manipulates language and tone to strengthen his argument against the complaints of the clergyman and successfully address the white people. Thus, these essays are of lower quality than ones written by experts. Even now, it continues to make generations of people, not just Americans, to give up their racist beliefs and advocate social colorblindness. For example, to use parallelism in a sentence in which you list a series of elements, each element typically has the same form. Take for instance when the part of the letter when Dr. King talks about different men, both biblical, Martin Luther King Jr.s goal in Letter From Birmingham Jail is to convince the people of Birmingham that they should support civil disobedience and the eventual end to the segregation laws in Birmingham. While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Repetition in "The Letter from a Birmingham Jail" Ethos Example "A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. Lastly he shows ethos by using authority in his speech by using quotes from two very famous documents. He wrote the letter in response to criticisms made by white clergymen. He ended up creating a very persuasive letter, one that effectively uses ethos in establishing his character, logos in providing reason and logic, and pathos in reaching human emotions. Egypt) and titles (e.g. Martin Luther King Jr. displays pathos by targeting the audiences emotion by talking about his American dream that could also be other peoples too. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were both two African American civil rights activists who were very prominent throughout history. The rhetorical choices referenced above are riddled with pathos, also known as language utilized to persuade the audience emotionally. Analysing a rhetorical situation clarifies why a text was created, the purpose in which it was written, and why the author made specific choices while writing it. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. His audience ranged between those who his message empowered, a radical positive force, and those who disagreed, made up of southern states, extremist groups, and the majority of American citizens stuck in their racial prejudices. King writes the letter to defend his organization's actions and the letter is also an appeal to the people, both the white and black American society, the social, political, and religious community, and the whole of American society to encourage desegregation and encourage solidarity and equality among all Americans, with no stratifications according to racial differences. Since Kings arrest he had time to think deeply about the situation; therefore, he decides to reply back to the Alabama clergymen. Both lincolns Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech are similar in that they both express the concept of freedom to achieve their purpose. Kings decision to compare his efforts to those of biblical figures with shared intent was a deliberate attempt to find common ground with his initial readers, the eight religious Birmingham clergymen, through the faith of a shared religion. Lloyd Bitzer describes rhetorical situation as, a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action to bring about the significant modification of the exigence (6). Ethically most people believe that it is necessary to keep a promise. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust(Barnet and Bedau 742). This period of quiet speculation over the law illuminates the national divide in opinion over the matter, one which King helped persuade positively. Early in his speech, King writes riches of freedom and security of justice and then justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. In these two examples, King is using parallelism to express that the African American wants justice and freedom by repeating them next to each other and mentally connecting them in the readers mind, which is also connected with pathos as the terms King uses subtly emphasize those words and create good feelings in the reader. I am here because I have basic organizational ties here (King 1), after describing his involvement in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as president. 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. SophAbs. The concept of parallelism in letters from birmingham jail by martin luther king jr.. http://www.kibin.com/essay-examples/the-concept-of-parallelism-in-letters-from-birmingham-jail-by-martin-luther-king-jr-Q1aX8ugT Be sure to capitalize proper nouns (e.g. Initially, the eight Birmingham clergymen are the audience and while they were not overtly racist, King uses rhetoric meant to have them understand his urgency. In A Letter From A Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr defends his use of nonviolent protest in order to accomplish racial equality. He goes on to add; I am in Birmingham because injustice is here (King 1). What King discloses in his essay, Letter From Birmingham Jail, displays how the laws of segregation have affected African-Americans. MarkAHA. 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. Specifically he targeted the clergymen who made laws at that time. In this example, King implements logos to create a cohesive argument that appeals to the rational side of his audience: Southern clergymen. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a civil rights activist that fought for the rights of African Americans in 1963. 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. Throughout the letter, Dr. King does a tremendous job of supporting his argument with the three elements of Aristotles rhetorical appeal. Therefore, these other literary devices and figures of speech are specific types of parallelism.. One of the most well-known examples of . He also wants the readers to realize that negroes are not to be mistreated and that the mistreatment of negroes could have severe implications as in a violent protest against the laws made by the court. Parallelism, in the way King uses it, connects what seems like small problems to a larger issue. He begins strongly by explaining why he is in Birmingham in the first place, stating, So I am herebecause we were invited here. King defends his primary thesis all throughout the length of his letter, and the arguments that he has made to prove that his thesis is true and valid will be the focus of this rhetorical analysis. Dr. King wrote 2 famous works, Dream and Birmingham and each had a different audience and purpose. He proves his authority through his explanation of his experience as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia (King 232), and he emphasizes the importance of addressing the situation to him when he says, seldom, if ever, do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas, referring to the people of Birminghams resistance to the civil protests that he has been leading in Birmingham (King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. mentions the atrocities of racism and describes his endless battles against it. Martin Luther King Jr. twists the perspective of his audience -- Southern clergymen -- to create antithetic parallelism in Letter from Birmingham Jail. 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. , Atlantic Media Company, 29 Jan. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/. Laws should build up society to be better so that a law is not need to be enforced and people will still follow it. Lastly, King is constrained by his medium. Glenn Eskew, Bombingham: Black Protest in Postwar Birmingham, Alabama, 1997. Example: Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? 808 certified writers . In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King implements antithesis -- along with his background as a minister -- to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Southern clergymen, as he attempts to further diverge the two diametric rationales; thus, he creates logos as he appeals to the audience's logical side and urges African-Americans to act punctual in their 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. Malcolm X, on the other hand, grew up in a rather hostile environment with barely enough schooling. Not only does he use pathos to humanize himself, but he also uses it to humanize his immediate audience, the eight clergymen. Martin Luther King, more than any other figure, shaped American life from the mid-"'"50s to the late "'"60s. In Kings speech he says, Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country (King Page 6). MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience. Some clergymen, mostly white American men, believe the nonviolent protest Dr. King and African Americans were during was "unwise" and "untimely". Dr. King often used repetition and parallel construction to great emotional effect when he spoke. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. Repetitions help the writer give structure to his arguments and highlight important aspects. Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from Birmingham Jail. The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 29 Jan. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/letter-from-a-birmingham-jail/552461/. 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. To achieve this, he used rhetorical strategies such as appeal to pathos and repetition. In the letter, King appeals for unity against racism in society, while he wants to fight for Human Rights, using ethos. The letter goes on to explain his choice to act directly and nonviolently, stating, For years now I have heard the word wait. It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. The constraints surrounding Martin Luther Kings rhetorical situation include the audience, the rhetorical exigence of the situation he is responding to, Dr. King himself, and the medium, all of which are deeply connected. He deliberately tries to make the audience feel as if racial segregation is both wrong and against basic morals. In the Letter from Birmingham Jail written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., King addressed the concerns of the white clergy and gave support to the direct action committed by African Americans. However, this constraint did not ultimately halt the spread of Kings message nation-wide, as it became a persuasive landmark of the civil rights movement, likely due to both his impactful position and persuasive use of rhetoric. Here, King concedes that the clergy acts with the virtuous goal of justice in mind, which allows him to establish his argument against the manner in which they seek equality. Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail addresses his fellow clergymen and others who critiqued him for his actions during this time. Who was he truly writing for? This letter is a prime example of Kings expertise in constructing persuasive rhetoric that appealed to the masses at large. In sum, all rhetoric has an external situation in which it is responding to. Despite his support, Martin Luthers audience is one of the largest constraints in his rhetorical situation. Letter from Birmingham Jail is addressed to clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. during several protest in, Letter from Birmingham Jail is a letter written by Martin Luther King, Jr. while he was in jail for participating in peaceful protest against segregation. The law was written in 1962, but the powerful response pushed the courts to finalize their decision. 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. 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." The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Lastly, the exigence of a rhetorical piece is the external issue, situation, or event in which the rhetoric is responding to. In terms of legacies, Martin Luther King Jr. is an example of someone whose legacy has left an impact on a great many fields. In the letter "Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. writes to the Clergyman to express his idea on the racial discrimination and injustice going on in Birmingham Alabama. 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. Right after that, he alludes to another American writing, the Declaration of. , 29 May 2019, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/letter-birmingham-jail. In parallel structure, a writer repeats the same pattern of words or/and pattern of grammatical structure. and may encompass the audience, as seen while analysing Letter From Birmingham Jail. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. Though this letter was intended for the judgemental and condescending men of high faith, his response touched the hearts and minds of the entire U.S. population, then, and for years to come. Introduction. The audience of Letter From Birmingham Jail was initially the eight clergymen of Birmingham, all white and in positions of religious leadership. 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. The first to come to mind for most would be civil rights activism, as he was an instrumental figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. for only $11.00 $9.35/page. It was important for King to address this audience as their support would ultimately make the largest difference in the movement. Saying it that way magnifies the imperative difference between the two types of laws. In response to Kings peaceful protesting, the white community viewed [his] nonviolent efforts as those of an extremist, and subsequently imprisoned the pastor (para 27). The "Letter from Birmingham Jail" was written by the African American hero Dr. Martin Luther King in Birmingham back in 1963, addressing the issues that the African Americans faced back in that time.