Thesis Statement:
In order to write a brilliant literary piece, a writer needs inspiration whether tangible or intangible. Martin Luther King Jr. makes artistic use of such appeals as logos, phos, and pathos in his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. Dr. King’s inspiration for crafting the letter was the unjust proposals of eight clergymen in their “A Call for Unity,” to which gives his rebuttal. He uses logos, pathos, and thos appeals appeaks to dismiss his opponents’ sentiments and present his own diverging views.
Introduction
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail in Response to Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen”, King first appeals to his individual reputation and wisdom, then strives to arouse sympathetic emotions in the readers, and finally makes logical appeals by employing evidence and notations from historical influential thinkers.
Appeals to ethos (his character)
In the second paragraph, Dr. King establishes his credibility by answering the view of the clergymen claiming that he was an outsider getting involved in the matter. He draw his interlocutors to the fact that he is the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization which has presence in every southern state and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. This serves the significant role of placing at equal playing field with the clergymen in view of the fact he is also a religious leader of his community.
In the following paragraph, King insists that “like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.” Furthermore, he expresses that he is a prophet of freedom just like Paul and Jesus Christ. As such, he has the backing of the Almighty God to fight against any injustice and thus he is higher moral standards than his adversaries. Dr. King further states, in the fourth paragragh, that he is cognizant of the aspect that all communities and states are interrelated, he is of the assembly of few enlightened citizens, and bears necessary wisdom to present his opinions. In the same light, Luther King appeals to ethos through his technique to restate the views of the clergymen throughout the letter, something that goes a long way to embody the unfortunate alternative to his views. The great manner in which Dr. King uses Aristotle’s ethos – a technique of persuasion – enables him to build his own credibility on the arguments together with the strong claims he expresses throughout the letter.
Appeals to logos (reason)
After he states the overall goal of his letter, Luther King Jr. moves on to particularly address the clergymen and in effect setting up his logical counterargument. He observed, “You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.” In this manner, King establishes a foundation on which he builds his counterargument as he cites the flaws in the clergumen’s statement. He further argues that the demonstrations were both inevitable and necessary by saying that it was even unfortunate for the city’s white instruments of power to have left the Negro community without any alternative but to demostrate. The phrases “even more unfortunate” and “no alternative” signify that it was absolutely logical for the Negro community in Birmingham to resort to demonstrations. Immediately thereafter, Dr. King grows his logical argument by delving on the essential steps for any noviolent campaign. He says that nonviolent tension is overly constructive in the sense that it helps people rise from their dark depths of prejudice and racism to reach majestic heights characterized by understanding and brotherhood. It is indeed evident that there is great utilization of appeals to logos Martin Luther’s analysis of both the reasons as well as the underlying conflict spurring the unrest among whites and blacks in Birmingham. He is keen to observe there is widespread injustice leading to segregation in Birmingham by stating that “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States.” The utilization of such structured and sequential logical argument, Dr. King is able to appeal to the thoughts and logic of an educated person.
King Jr. also uses the appeal of logic in his direct address to this audience. He writes, “You may ask: ‘Why direct action? …isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are quite right in calling, for negotiation.” Logos is used here as the foundation of his argument, which is frequently mixed with pathos. He employs logical reasoning to advocate for negotiations while using pathos to bring about feelings of sympathy and remorse. Also, by making a link between segregation and unjust laws, Dr. King presents a perspective that is harldly undeniable to his opponents. He does this by quoting respected philosphers such as St. Aquinas and Martin Buber.
Appeals to pathos (emotion)
In the letter, it is evident that King desires to arouse a feeling of proximity together with sympathy among his readers for tehe civil rights cause that he was championing. He targets to emotionally influence both the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) and African American communities. He aims to evoke the spirit of nonviolent contestation among the African American into the unjust aggressiveness that was being metted at them by majority WASP citizens. His appeal to ethos makes its debut in the very first paragraph of his letter where does well to set the tone of the letter. King makes it clear that he up to answering the clergumen’s statements in not only reasonable terms but also patient terms.
Finally, Dr. King employs the appeal of pathos in addressing te issue of Birmingham’s police force being praised for keeping “order” plus “preventing violence”. He begins by drawing the reader to some of the actions taken by the police force such setting free their dogs on the demonstraters together their ill treatment of the people. He cautions the clerymen that they would not be quick to praise the police if they saw how inhumanely they treated Negroes in Jail, pushed and kicked elderly Negro man and young boys, refused to give the demonstrators food for wanting to sing their grace as one. By this King strives to paint to the WASP reader the inhumane conditions in which the African Americans live. He aims to have his opponents to see the pain and humiliation and thus stir up emotions of rection against such immoral behaviors. Greater though, King wants to inspire a moral rebellion against condescendence and hatred directed at non-violent Negro demonstators. Lastly, King Jr. applauds the heroism shown in the contestations against oppression. His goal here is to build a sense of pride in the anti-establishment actions.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it must be said that of the three appeals that Dr. Luther King used in his letter logos was most dominant. Appeals of ethos and pathos used are brilliant because the letter is consistent or logical. In this respect, logos it the persuasive appeal that holds everything together in Dr. King’s letter.
