Rhetorical Appeals in “Letter from a Birmingham jail (King, Jr.)”

Martin Luther King’s letter written from Birmingham jail is an embodiment of literary use of rhetorical terminology, in which he applies he exemplifies three different kinds of appeals to persuade his audience to participate in peaceful associations, or dissuade them from engaging in violence. The situation presented in the letter calls for a judicial discourse, the type of rhetoric which lauds accusations towards the unjust, and beeps up defense for the unjust; as opposed to other forms of rhetoric which call for ceremonial discourse, as in Faulkner’s speech (Higgins & Walker, 2012). King also blends the use of judicial discourse with deliberative discourse, in which he yearns to dissuade Americans from being tolerant to racial discrimination, and persuades them to embrace the high standards of their land’s heritage.

In his letter, King uses emotional appeal to pass his message to his audience, by exploiting his dual approach of discourse, and by carefully blending the elements of persuasion. Various aspects of appeals to ethics, otherwise known as ethos, which are usually entails convincing someone of the credibility and/or character of the persuader, are keenly incorporated within the letter to with an aim of changing the perspectives of the clergymen (Fulkerson, 1979). Moreover, appeals to emotion, which is used to convince the audience through creation of an emotional response, commonly known as pathos is also used. Lastly, the King makes use of another appeal to logic, known as logos that convince audience by reason (Fulkerson, 1979). Various instances of these rhetoric appeals are repeated everywhere, making the letter as persuasive as possible.

In the first instance of pathos, as King wills to explain the reasons behind his being in jail, he uses arête to prove his excellence in the phrase: “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,” (King, 1963, par.2) To further his argument based on his qualities as a leader, he goes on to talk about the operations of the organization in multiple states, and his involvement in many more affiliations. In this sense, he utilizes ethos to show his smartness and that he has enough merit to earn himself a load of credibility. In the fourth paragraph, another emotional use of rhetoric appeal is evident in from of pathos. He uses numerous fancy phrases, which could easily be assumed to be in the form of a chiasmus, though they are not. Nonetheless, the phrases are smart and cool, deriving from emotions of the audience. For instance, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere;” and “Whatever affects one directly, affects everyone indirectly,” (King, 1963, par.4)are some of the examples of pathos utilized in the letter. These sentiments re meant to prompt the audience to plunge into deep thought and meditation, eliciting emotions that would be favorable in making a wise decision according to the persuader (Rife, 2010). They are also meant to depict King as super clever, and the inclusion of words like destiny and justice are meant to heat the readers up.

In other instances, logos are manifested magnificently. In the sixth paragraph, MLK brings into the public domain some hard facts that give reason to his feelings and arguments, including his distaste of the state of affairs at Birmingham. He presents the sorry situation of black segregation, discrimination and unfair treatment, and declares the attitude towards Negroes as painful. He says, “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known…” (King, 1963, par.6)

The use of these appeals by King is a bright literary approach to capture the attention and mind of his audience, which he succeeds in doing according to historical literature.

References

Fulkerson, R. P. (1979). The public letter as a rhetorical form: structure, logic, and style in king’s ‘letter from Birmingham jail’. Quarterly Journal Of Speech, 65(2), 121.

Higgins, C., & Walker, R. (2012). Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports.Accounting Forum, 36(3), 194-208.

King, M. L. (1963). “Letter from a Birmingham jail (King, Jr.)” Accessed from African Studies Center: University of Pennsylvania, 15^th April 2013. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Rife, M. (2010). Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Kairos: Using a Rhetorical Heuristic to Mediate Digital-Survey Recruitment Strategies. IEEE Transactions On Professional Communication, 53(3), 260-277.