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. 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. Additionally, personable elements such as tone, inflection, and overall vindication behind the letter are left to be determined by the rhetorical language. 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. As mentioned before, the social and political ideologies in America surrounding racial equity at this time, specifically in Birmingham, were extremely poor. The audience of a rhetorical piece will shape the rhetoric the author uses in order to appeal, brazen, or educate whoever is exposed. It was important for King to address this audience as their support would ultimately make the largest difference in the movement. He uses the rhetorical appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos numerous times throughout his essay to relay his argument about the laws of segregation and the African-Americans that are being cruelly treated.. Get professional help and free up your time for more important things. Ethically most people believe that it is necessary to keep a promise. 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. Laws should build up society to be better so that a law is not need to be enforced and people will still follow it. Since Kings arrest he had time to think deeply about the situation; therefore, he decides to reply back to the Alabama clergymen. Just as well, King uses his aspirations to create ideas within the listeners. 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. Martin Luther King Jr. twists the perspective of his audience -- Southern clergymen -- to create antithetic parallelism in Letter from Birmingham Jail. 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. 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. Parallelism takes many forms in literature, such as anaphora, antithesis, asyndeton, epistrophe, etc. Malcolm X, on the other hand, grew up in a rather hostile environment with barely enough schooling. Any deadline. MarkAHA. Martin Luther King, more than any other figure, shaped American life from the mid-"'"50s to the late "'"60s. Other than the speechs heartwarming and moving content, Kings effective structure along with the usage of all three rhetorical modes and certain rhetorical tropes and schemes has revealed the reason I Have a Dream as a masterpiece of rhetoric and it persuades hundreds of thousands of people support the blacks instead of treating them. 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. He approaches his argument with logic and appealing to the people of Birminghams emotions. King strategically persuades. Therefore, these other literary devices and figures of speech are specific types of parallelism.. One of the most well-known examples of . Both influential speeches rely heavily on rhetorical devices to convey their purpose. Martin Luther King's 'Letter From Birmingham Jail' 16 terms. The law was written in 1962, but the powerful response pushed the courts to finalize their decision. 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. In addition, King is also in Birmingham because he feels compelled to respond to injustice wherever he finds it. Right after that, he alludes to another American writing, the Declaration of. 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. Because of his skill in creating such pieces of writing, as well as his influential role within the Civil Rights Movement, and the reminder that Letter from Birmingham Jail provides of these trying times, his letter should continue to be included within A World of Ideas. It is rather for us to be here, As it may do that, it also seems to serve more of a logical appeal because he mentions the evidence of white brotherhood. King understood that if he gained support from the white American, the civil rights movement would reach its goals much faster. With this addressed, his audience was truly the population of the United States, especially Birmingham, with a focus on those who withheld and complied with the oppression of African American citizens, even if not intentionally. 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. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a letter that illustrates oppression being a large battle fought in this generation and location. " Any law that degrades human personality is unjust." In. IvyMoose is the largest stock of essay samples on lots of topics and for any discipline. 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. He begins strongly by explaining why he is in Birmingham in the first place, stating, So I am herebecause we were invited here. 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). 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. After reading "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", ask your students to do a scavenger hunt using the storyboard creator. 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. 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. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. '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. 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 With this addressed, his audience was truly the population of the United States, especially Birmingham, with a focus on those who withheld and complied with the oppression of African American citizens, even if not intentionally. The biases of the audience go hand in hand with the rhetorical exigence of this letter, another large constraint in the effectiveness of his message. 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. There isn't quite as much of that in "Letter From Birmingham Jail," but it still pops up a couple of times. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. In the letter, King appeals for unity against racism in society, while he wants to fight for Human Rights, using ethos. You can order a custom paper by our expert writers. These circumstances lead us to our next rhetorical focus: audience. To get a high-quality original essay, click here. 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. By using it, you accept our. In his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. presents an argument through analogy by comparing his situation to Apostle Paul. He hopes that this letter will stop this injustice matter, and show what the African American desire. Dr. Parallelism is useful to emphasize things and ideas to the audience, which, like all the other tropes and schemes. In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. 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. Some clergymen, mostly white American men, believe the nonviolent protest Dr. King and African Americans were during was "unwise" and "untimely". You may use it as a guide or sample for writing your own . Who had criticize Martin Luther King because he was simply doing something that was right and violence was not needed for King. Dr. King fought against segregation between Black Americans and White Americans. Black Americans were forced to sit behind buses and kids were to use old books and uniforms of White Americans. Identify the parallel structures in the following sentence from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and explain their effect. Mistreatment of this kind is labeled as racial discrimination. 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 Letter From Birmingham Jail being a shining example. Kings goes on to say how racial equality can not be achieved until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream (King). 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. Order can only be held for so long whilst injustice is around. 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. He goes on to add; I am in Birmingham because injustice is here (King 1). He evokes emotion on his audience by discussing the trials and injustice African Americans have endured. What King discloses in his essay, Letter From Birmingham Jail, displays how the laws of segregation have affected African-Americans. These encompass his exigence, at its most simple and precise, and validify the importance behind transforming the country in a positive way. He displays a great amount of pathos, logos, and ethos in his speech. Whether this be by newspaper, flyers, or restated by another in speech, the spread of information is slower and potentially more controllable. Explain why the examples fit your chosen reason. An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and The law was written in 1962, but the powerful response pushed the courts to finalize their decision. Not only was this a social division, but those who opposed King were reinforced by the respective legislature that sought to burden him. This period of quiet speculation over the law illuminates the national divide in opinion over the matter, one which King helped persuade positively. Civil rights leader and social activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a world renown correspondence, Letter From Birmingham Jail, in April of 1963, during a time when segregation was at its peak in the South. But the strongest influential device King used was pathos. 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. 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. Back then, people were ready to oppose unjust laws that were causing inequality and preventing progress. In order to do this, Martin Luther King uses several techniques in paragraph thirteen and fourteen of his letter such as repetition, personification, as well as allusion, to support his claim that racial unity has taken too long. 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. King organized various non-violent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama that resulted in his arrest. Throughout the Letter from Birmingham Jail, ethos, pathos, and logos are masterfully applied by Martin Luther King. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience.