Analysis of Letter from Birmingham Jail

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Literature

Document 1

He used the message as a way of defending himself from the allegations that were made against him. In the letter, he explains his drive when it came to the civil rights strikes and demonstrations he had been running. The audience of his message is the religious leaders that opposed his civil rights activities. Like any other writer, he uses his creativity from a creative point that helps him drive the point. In this essay, there will be an analysis of the rhetorical devices. An example of lines that shows the use of pathos is when he says, “…when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim. ”(King, 1992). These words and description make the audience feel and envision everything King had had to see his family and friends go through all those difficulties.

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Such paragraphs, as well as the imagery applied, would enable the audience to start feeling what King was feeling at that particular moment. Using emotional sentences and paragraphs is a better way of capturing the attention of the clergymen. C. left their villages and carried their 'thus saith the Lord' far beyond boundaries of their hometowns, so am also compelled to carry the gospel of freedom far beyond my hometown…” (King, 1992) This is a reasoning argument used by Dr. King to compare what he was doing to what the prophets did to get the word of God to other parts of the world. Logos has been used well to appeal to the emotions of the clergymen since they are factual and logical things that took place.

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