Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

After the Birmingham, Alabama newspaper published "The Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen" calling Martin Luther King Jr.'s activities "unwise and untimely," King wrote a response back from jail arguing each point the clergymen had made in their "Public Statement." In the "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King points out that he is not an outsider since the people of Birmingham invited him and that since they are all within the United States, nobody should be even considered an outsider. Being a fighter of injustice, King says, he sought to negotiate with the white community of Birmingham, but they refused to comply. Then, he illustrates to them that the tension amongst the groups is many times good because it leads to action and negotiation.
In one of those arguments, King has a long paragraph devoted to giving descriptions of the harsh lives of African-Americans during the past 340 years. King says "that when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim… then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait" (¶14). In this quotation taken from among many other examples in the paragraph, King shows how African-Americans live their lives in the United States under racial prejudice and violence. Through this paragraph, the reader can actually feel the violence that is being carried out against African-Americans. As I read the paragraph, I was extremely saddened by the horrific violence of lynching and the effects of segregation. Here the intention of the appeal is carried out because the readers sympathize with African-Americans, and many times one's emotions have a stronger effect in influencing one's actions more than logic and reasoning. Thus, the pathos appeal is very persuasive in King's argument and proves to be very effective in the