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Dr King Rhetorical Analysis

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Dr King Rhetorical Analysis
MLK and Thoreau

When encountering injustice and treated less than a human being, it is not difficult for one to speak out against an issue and voice one's mind. Though two different authors writing on different issues both were compelling and perplexing. Dr. King is fed up with not being treated equal, where Thoreau is tired of flaws in American government. Dr. King's letter discusses many tragedies that the black generations have gone through and hopes that things can change. Thoreau's essay exposes flaws in American government and criticizes the American government for its democratic nature, the idea of majority ruling, and its inability to work properly for the people. Both inform the audience of a specific issue but when comparing the two, Dr. Kings letter proved to be more effective. Dr. King uses great parallelism, more potent appeals and uses cause and effect as a tool to clarify his ideas. Though Thoreau had some uses of details and logical appeals; overall King uses more to strengthen his essay. King's essay is …show more content…
King, Thoreau also uses appeals in his "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience." Thoreau uses emotional appeal's however they are not as evident as that of King's. Thoreau uses emotional appeal in his mention of Cesar and Christ. His logical and ethical appeals however are more so evident, and make the essay a very successful one in this aspect. "I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"…"that government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which we will have." (1) Throughout Thoreau's essay the same example is present and makes the audience think more critically which may in turn lose his reader. Thoreau's essay prolongs the real issues with unnecessary details that in turn confuses the audience on what exactly he is trying to say. Whereas Dr. King is straightforward with his details allowing the reader to read along
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