Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From A Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King JR was an activist who took part as a leader in the Civil Rights movement. This whole movement of his is emphasized on the idea that nonviolent actions be taken. Although he was a leader for the Civil Rights movement, he was a Baptist minister too which played a critical role in his movement. The whole idea of taking nonviolent actions was due to his Christian beliefs, and it’s demonstrated all throughout the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. In his letter, Martin writes to a clergyman where he finds out that his nonviolent protest movements have been accused of being “extreme.” Whenever he responds back to the clergyman’s accusation, he employs rhetorical strategies. However, not only are these rhetorical strategies being employed when he’s responding to the accusation, but they can be seen throughout the letter. At the start of
For example, he says, “So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?” In this situation, Martin uses the rhetorical question to provoke a time for thinking. This is classified as a rhetorical strategy because Martin isn’t trying to receive an answer from the clergyman but make him think about the question/statement. He wants him to ponder on the idea of what kind of extremists will they be. He also says, “Will be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice.” Furthermore, he wants to make the clergyman re think everything he has said on the activities going on in Birmingham, so he says a statement that he knows will definitely leave him in uncertainty. Due to the clergyman’s position, for being that of a religious leader, Martin says, “The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his