Martin Luther King Jr. :: essays research papers

After the Birmingham, Alabama newspaper published The Public account by Eight Alabama Clergymen calling Martin Luther King Jr.s activities unwise and untimely, King wrote a response back from jail line of reasoning each point the clergymen had made in their Public Statement. In the garner from Birmingham Jail, King points step to the fore that he is not an outsider since the people of Birmingham invited him and that since they atomic number 18 all within the United States, nobody should be even considered an outsider. beingness a fighter of injustice, King says, he sought to negotiate with the sporting community of Birmingham, but they refused to comply. Then, he illustrates to them that the tension amongst the groups is many times correct because it leads to action and negotiation. He further explains that calling the actions of Negroes unwise and untimely is denying them justice, which they remove been waiting for too long. Moreover, King explains that laws can be just an d unjust, and that he will only obey just laws that agree with the moral ready and disobey laws that do not unlike the white churches, which permit detriment and hate even though they should preach brotherhood and love. Lastly, King points out that Negroes will win their freedom in the end because it is their right and perfections will. To argue his points in the Letter King uses each of the oneness-third rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos, and logos. In this essay, I will try to prove that one appeal is more effective than the rest, but first in order to help one understand what these appeals mean, I will use Arthur Quinns definitions of what the three appeals entail. The first appeal, the ethos, tries to transport an audience to agree with an argument by using the reputation and character of the speaker or writer. For instance, a well-liked semipolitical leader might hold a strong ethos in the eye of his constituents, and therefore his opinions on issues might convince his c onstituents to hold the same opinions whether or not they know anything about the issue. In contrast, the pathos appeal attempts to persuade an audience by targeting their emotions in attempt to gain their sympathy for the argument. An congressman of this appeal can be seen in TV commercials fundraising money for needy children. The final appeal, the logos, attempts to persuade an audience using logic and good reasoning.