Rhetorical Devices In Letter From Birmingham Jail
Rhetorical Analysis “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”: The Truth and Reality
Freedom is never willingly given, thus it must be demanded. Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which was originally written to seven white clergymen, enumerates the bitter experiences of segregation. Dr. King’s purpose was to convey what it feels like being an African American in a town where injustice lives. He creates an indignant tone in order to convince his readers the necessity of immediate action.
Dr. King opens paragraph four on page two to express the humiliation of being a “Negro” and therefore forcefully demands that this humiliation will no longer be accepted. He appeals to pathos to show how intolerable it is to be a “Negro” in the United States. Dr. King achieves this specifying “When you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society.” This is showing how deep his empathy is with his fellow Negro Americans. In addition to this pathos he is using antithesis “in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society.” He not only empathizes with the community, he also exudes the difficulties of himself and these people.
Dr. King is an eloquent speaker overall. However, he goes into contention to …show more content…
King then uses figurative language to affect the emotions of the clergymen in order for them to see what he is saying and know it is time to take action now. “For years now I have heard the word wait this “wait” has almost always meant never.” This sentence uses the metaphor to compare wait to never. He further emphasizes on the wait saying “I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “wait.” with the metaphor comparing segregation to stinging darts. By using this comparative language the audience can begin to take into consideration the hardships and humiliation they have caused to the black
Freedom is never willingly given, thus it must be demanded. Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which was originally written to seven white clergymen, enumerates the bitter experiences of segregation. Dr. King’s purpose was to convey what it feels like being an African American in a town where injustice lives. He creates an indignant tone in order to convince his readers the necessity of immediate action.
Dr. King opens paragraph four on page two to express the humiliation of being a “Negro” and therefore forcefully demands that this humiliation will no longer be accepted. He appeals to pathos to show how intolerable it is to be a “Negro” in the United States. Dr. King achieves this specifying “When you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society.” This is showing how deep his empathy is with his fellow Negro Americans. In addition to this pathos he is using antithesis “in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society.” He not only empathizes with the community, he also exudes the difficulties of himself and these people.
Dr. King is an eloquent speaker overall. However, he goes into contention to …show more content…
King then uses figurative language to affect the emotions of the clergymen in order for them to see what he is saying and know it is time to take action now. “For years now I have heard the word wait this “wait” has almost always meant never.” This sentence uses the metaphor to compare wait to never. He further emphasizes on the wait saying “I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “wait.” with the metaphor comparing segregation to stinging darts. By using this comparative language the audience can begin to take into consideration the hardships and humiliation they have caused to the black