In class, we’ve looked at Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham jail. Letter from Birmingham jail has been said to be a rhetorical master piece because MLK’s effective use of rhetorics. In this blog post, I will take a closer look at his rhetorical techniques and describe examples for each rhetoric with its effects.
FIrst of all, pathos is one of the most standing out rhetoric used in the letter. The 14th paragraph staring from “We have waited” to “unavoidable impatience” continually gives examples of African-Americans’ daily life and unpleasant treatments by the society. MLK describes seeing “tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children” which effectively bring out sympathy in readers. These real-life examples that MLK uses appeal to the emotion of the reader by invoking sympathy and feelings of injustice in readers. In addition the sentences are connected to each other by semicolons which make the readers read faster, building up tension.
Another rhetoric that MLK uses is logos which appeals to logic of the readers. MLK describes that:
“It was illegal to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s anti-religious laws.”
Above is where MLK relates an example of an real-life event, the holocaust, to his argument and support his argument. By suggesting information or fact that readers can understand or relate to, MLK effectively convinces his readers to think that his arguments are based on logics instead of being bold statements.
Lastly, MLK uses ethos to appeal to authority and ethos. He quotes and cites figures that readers identify with to claim that his argument is, again, not just bold statements but instead sophisticated and ideas that readers might have previously agreed on. Below are examples of ethos in the text:
“Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”
“As T. S. Eliot has said: The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
In above, MLK starts the sentences with “as ‘so and so’ said/felt. By doing this, MLK is borrowing other figures’ quotations or claims to support to show readers that he is educated about or aware of what other figures had to say. In addition, he is helping readers to relate to previous claims of other figures to convince readers to build credibility and trust of his text.
As all of the three rhetorical techniques are used effectively in MLK’s letter from Birmingham jail, it is not surprising that this text has been praised as a rhetorical mater piece. I think reading MLK’s letter helped me learn the effectiveness of rhetorical devices.