Rhetorical Analysis Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Marko Kovacevic AP English Mrs. Lyons 2/5/2018 Letter from Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis Human race has always strived to move forward in its development through history. It has raced as fast as it could, but the pace which it utilized remained the same, despite efforts put into changing this very fact. That was, until 19th century and the grand leap that the race as a whole experienced. Finally, after such a long time, human kind was able to leap forward and, in the next 100 years, achieve such a progress that has never been seen before. But, people still remained chained by something that will become one of the mankind’s greatest issues to this very day, and that was inability to quickly adapt their views on certain matters…show more content…
Martin Luther King Jr. was, at the time, one of the most educated black people. He attended several colleges, and at the end earned his Ph.D.at the prestigious Boston University. So, there is plenty of evidence that he was a right man to discuss a subject delicate like this. His approach would uphold his high credentials, as he never turned to violence and managed to win a fight based solely on his facts and appeal to logic and feelings of his audience. This letter was not different in any way. But, the use of pathos and logos in this text was followed by stating a few facts that constructed ethos of this letter. While his credentials are known to almost everyone, his opponents and his followers, he does not need to stated them in the letter in particular. However, the width and variety of historical examples and euphemisms that he states during the course of his letter would imply that he was a well-read and educated man, for those not fond of his academic achievements. Several times in text did King compare either himself and his followers or his opponents to some historical figure and some event that that figure was a part of. One of the most distinct examples would be a whole paragraph on 4th page, as he compares himself and his followers to a great amount of famous historical figures and their most famous deeds. Another appeal to the ethos in this text would be his treatment of opposing argument and facts, which went without any hate language and simply by stating…show more content…
Careful choice of place where a certain fact is being stated, and good examples hat were provided only helped persuade even those who’s ethics aren’t their strong suit, and they rather trust their logic. One good example of logos in this text was the description of earning and demanding freedom at the bottom of second page. His description of achieving freedom is purely logical and aside from that carries a certain weight with the support he gained by giving examples. Freed indeed could never be obtained without first being asked for, and he found an excellent way to translate that complicated thought into the language everybody would understand. Sentences like “justice too long delayed is justice denied” (12th paragraph, second page) is just adding another fact perfectly. Another example is the one that follows immediately in the next paragraph. King’s explanation of just and unjust laws is probably one of the most influential one’s, and certainly the one that could make you think, if not about the problem in hand, at least about the philosophical part of the message that is being conveyed. Whole 14th paragraph serves as an explanation of the statement he made at the end of 13th, and while he clearly opposes the segregation in his paragraph, he never mentions it and simply leads you to a conclusion that
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