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Letters From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis

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Letters From Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical Strategies Used In
“Letters from Birmingham Jail.”

Cindy Peralta
AP English & Composition
October 17, 2014

In the article “Letters from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was a participant in a non-violent demonstration against segregation, subjects a response to a public settlement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. The occasion of the letter was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sentence to jail due to a non-violent participation in racial segregation. The letter was for people who were against him which were the eight white religious leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted the …show more content…
Martin Luther King Jr. uses imagery as a rhetorical strategy. With the use of imagery Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his response to the eight white religious leaders with much detail. He states “…When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you speak to your six-year old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that fun town is closed to colored children…”. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expresses how young children are also being affected due to segregation, in which I can see in my mind because if that were me as a child I know that I would be devastated. In this perspective of the imagery that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses I can agree on his …show more content…
Martin Luther King Jr. not only uses those two rhetorical strategies, he also uses antithesis. While he makes his point thru, he also adds on other comparisons that weren’t right. “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was 'legal' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was 'illegal'.” Dr. Martin Luther king also sees that the fight for freedom was illegal. But when there are people mistreating or causing harm to another it is legal. This is related to segregation because it was legal and so was the horrifying things Hitler did, also the fight for freedom is illegal in both cases. The use of antithesis strongly improves Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter because it makes us see the right from the
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