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  • Essay / Rhetorical Appeals Used by Martin Luther King in His Letter from Birmingham Jail

    Have you wondered why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter that would change lives? Well, in the middle of the century, Martin Luther King wrote the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and he was criticized by many people, including 8 clergymen, and wanted to point out to the clergyman that he did not never been a stranger from the start. Around this time, there was also an incident in which Rosa Parks, an American civilian, decided to get on a bus and refused to give up her seat to a white man. This happened in the same city where Dr. King wrote his letter. It was because of this act that she was arrested and began fighting for the policy of racial segregation as Dr. King. In the letter from the Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King brings everyone together to talk about the protesters and why they decided to continue to disobey the laws and orders. The reason he did this was because he was hated and he wanted to tell his audience that we should do this together and that we are all Americans if what he says is not enough to believe him. He tells the pastor that they have no choice because they ignore the fact that they can express their discontent. Dr. Martin Luther makes it clear that he is not an outsider and that he can help change a lot of things if people stop protesting laws and segregation. He primarily addresses the black community and African Americans, as they were primarily the audience protesting and listening to his speech. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay He uses many types of rhetorical appeals to enhance his argument and opinion due to the fact that they were protesting against violence and laws. He first uses anaphora to better explain to the clergy what laws are legally acceptable. An example in his letter is near the beginning of his letter. He uses this: “A righteous law is a man-made code that corresponds to the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is not in harmony with the moral law. In the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas: an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law nor in natural law. Every law that elevates the human personality is just. Any law that degrades the human personality is unjust. All segregation laws are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” In this quote, Dr. Martin Luther King explains to the pastor which law is unjust and which is just. He says that a just law is someone who is made of code and an unjust law is someone who is not in harmony. He explains this to the pastor because they don't know the difference. These are just logos because Dr. King is explaining to all the African Americans protesting that they have no choice and what a law is to him. He uses it again but with a different meaning. “He who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, with love, and with a willingness to accept punishment. I maintain that an individual who violates a law which his conscience declares to him to be unjust and who willingly accepts the sentence of imprisonment in order to awaken the conscience of the community to its injustice. He tells us he is breaking the law knowing the penalty. He has the greatest respect because he is the one trying to make change. MLK also uses a lot of personification and uses past history to tell us important facts and details. Towards the end of the letter he speaks of his personal imprisonment for.