Topic > Rhetorical Appeals Used by Martin Luther King in His Letter from Birmingham Jail

Have you wondered why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter that would change lives? Well, during the mid-century, Martin Luther King wrote the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and was criticized by many people, including 8 priests, and he wanted to point out to the priest that he was never an outsider to begin with. An incident also occurred during this time where Rosa Parks, who was an American civil servant, decided to get on a bus and refused to give up her seat to a white male. This occurred in the same city where Dr. King wrote his letter. Because of this act she was arrested and began to fight for the policy of racial segregation like Dr. King. In the letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King brings everyone together to talk about the protesters and why these people decided to continue to disobey the laws and ordinances. The reason he did this is because he was hated and wanted to tell his audience that we should do this together and that we are all Americans if what he is saying is not enough to believe him. He is telling the priest that they have no choice because they have ignored the fact that they can express unhappiness. Dr. Martin Luther clearly says that he is not an outsider and that he can help change many things if people stop protesting against laws and segregation. He primarily targets the Black/African American community as they were primarily the audience protesting and listening to his speech. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. He uses many different types of rhetorical appeals to enhance his argument and opinion because they were protesting against violence and laws. First, he uses anaphora to better explain to the priest what laws are acceptable to the law. An example in his letter is towards the beginning of his letter. Use this: “A just law is a man-made code that agrees with moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is not in harmony with moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that elevates human personality is right. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation laws are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality." In this quote, Dr. Martin Luther King explains to the priest which law is unjust and just. He says that a just law is someone who is made of code and an unjust law is someone who is not in harmony. He explains it to the priest because they don't know the difference. This is all logos because Dr. King is explaining to all the protesting African Americans that they have no choice and what a law is to him. He uses it again but with a different meaning. “Whoever breaks an unjust law must do so openly, with love and with a willingness to accept punishment. I believe that an individual is unjust who breaks a law that his conscience tells him to and who willingly accepts the punishment of imprisonment to awaken the conscience of the community to his injustice." He tells us that he breaks the law knowing the penalty. He has the utmost respect because he is the one who attempts change. MLK also uses a lot of personification as he uses backstory to tell us important facts and details. Towards the end of the letter he talks about himself ending up in prison for parading without permission. “For example, I was arrested on charges of parading without permission. Now, there's nothing wrong with having an ordinance that requires a.