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Essay / Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies Used by Martin Luther King in the Birmingham Jail Letter
Table of ContentsEngaging White American Clergy Through Biblical ReferencesThe Use of Ethos and Logos in the LetterConclusionOne of the Movements historical figures that Dr. King compares the civil movement to The human rights movement is the movement led by Elijah Mohammad. Elijah Mohammed and Martin Luther King Jr. had extremely similar aspects in their movements and both contributed a lot to society in their own ways. However, the difference between them was that King advocated nonviolent direct action and passive resistance to achieve civil rights, while Elijah Mohammad was a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam and advocated in a more violent manner. , dismissing white Americans as demons of Islam. world and preached black supremacy. The reason MLK mentioned Elijah's movement in his letter from Birmingham Jail is to challenge the criticism he receives regarding his movement as being "extreme" and to point out that this is not the case by comparing black people who advocate violence when he does the exact opposite. Furthermore, King also compares himself to the Hungarians in the National Socialist movement led by Hitler. It symbolizes Hitler as the white supremacist racist towards blacks and Hungarians as the blacks who participated in MLK's non-violent movement against segregation. MLK used this movement as an analogy/example of what is happening in America and comparing it to the similarity to what happened in Germany during WWII. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the first paragraph, Martin Luther King Jr. struck a peaceful and professional tone. The irony of the first paragraph is that King Jr. is in prison doing nothing and says that if he addresses all disagreements, he is sacrificing time on his work. “If I tried to respond to every criticism that crosses my office, my secretaries would not be busy with other things during the day and I would not have time for constructive work.” Although King is watched behind bars, he still mentions how busy he is participating in nonviolent protests against segregation. Engaging White American Clergy Through Biblical References His references to biblical figures excite the moral obligations that white clergy have to support their motivation, as do the clemency and compassion called for by the Bible throughout the book. The ethos and feeling of the scriptural figures and occasions have a solid effect and viability for the readers. Since King is a Christian, he uses scriptural figures to indicate his strength. When he clarifies the contrast between just and unreasonable laws, he clarifies Saint Thomas Aquinas who said that "an unjust law is a human law which is not rooted in eternal law and natural law", at light of the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas is a scriptural figure of power for Christians. In paragraph 16, King also references Paul Tillich, a Christian existentialist scholar, who stated that detachment was a transgression. When King refers to Tillich, there is a sense of power towards Tillich. Since Tillich says that partition is a transgression, King suggests that isolation and segregation are also a wrongdoing. Furthermore, King legitimizes his activities against unjust laws by referring to the fact that early Christians did not submit to the unjust laws of the Roman Empire. The clergy demonstrated that challenges, including any manifestation ofcommon non-respect, can lead to savagery and potentially mobocracy. King takes a few paragraphs to clarify in an orderly and intelligent manner the techniques of a peaceful crusade. In paragraph 6, for example, he lays out the four basic steps, each careful and restrained. In the following paragraphs he clarifies the political atmosphere of Birmingham and how he and his region became aware of the people and opportunities in this network. His concrete and rational clarification of theory and technique suggests that peaceful battle is the opposite of dissent that demonstrates strongly with no respect for the results. The structure continues its work for this situation; deliberate clarification reflects the effective procedure to clarify. Lord clarifies the basic standards and procedure for developing peaceful challenge so that the reader understands his point of view. Regularly, a demonstration seems noisy, vexing and merciless. Regardless, King was genuinely trying to emphasize that he was not aiming to provoke fierce reactions and therefore his redundancy of peaceful challenges was noticeable. He wanted to mark the idea of fighting for your beliefs and your rights, in a peaceful and honorable way. The use of ethos and logos in the letter Throughout this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. begins by supporting his hasty and inauspicious reason through different fundamentally demonstrated axes. through ethos and logos. Despite the fact that he seems educated and fair, he does not engage the reader with what he is trying to describe about his activities. The long sentence in paragraph 14 is the central point that Martin Luther King Jr. legitimizes everything he does for the equity he seeks. Since this is a feelings-driven part, it allows the reader to really observe his intentions. Like different speaking strategies, emotion captures the group of spectators in an astonishing way. With the way he composed the letter, he leads the group of spectators to convey his activities first by what they need to legitimize as legitimate and then to make them feel why he is doing it. This intermittent sentence is the quintessential case of the convergence of structure with substance. King emphasizes time and despair through the redundancy of “when” and the accumulation of conditions specifying the shameful acts that black people persevered with. One way to take a look at the structure is that King begins with increasingly broad circumstances, "twenty million black brothers and sisters locked in a hermetically sealed enclosure of destitution", and then moves toward situations of closer and closer to home that include “your little six-year-old child”. daughter” and “your better half and your mother,” and ends with a deeper sense of the character of a people “harassed by day and frequented by night.” Overall, King uses distinctive details to paint what is basically a progression of vignettes within these subordinate conditions. From the 16th paragraph, an arrangement that shows the logos behind it tends to be seen in the accompanying entries. Martin Luther King Jr. presents his concept of what is simple and unreasonable through the information available to him with respect. “A just law is a man-made code that corresponds to the moral law or the law of God. » We can clearly see that King's letter is factual and while some may view it as one-sided or biased, he does not fail to mention the sequence of events that led to his confinement and demand. A syllogism is a statement that causes the group of spectators to think something through the realities previously posed. Martin Luther King Jr. leads the reader to.