A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Letter From Burmingham (Essay Sample)

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Letter from Birmingham – Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical analysis is the form of persuasion that is utilized in some essays whose objective is to make the reader change his position in a chosen area. It usually makes use of three common modes in trying to convince the reader. There is ethos that has to do with the writer’s qualifications in the discipline under discussion. Pathos stirs the emotions of the audience to make them get sympathetic to the cause or issue at hand. Also there is logos that makes use of known ways to reason out facts contained in the given case. This paper will take a case in the example where the author made use of the three ethical strategies to appeal to the concerned personnel.
The article titled “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” was written by Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was arrested and locked in the Birmingham jail for leading some protests that he had orchestrated in this particular town (King 7). He was responding to a letter that had been written criticizing him for his actions by the clergy from this particular area. They had raised some issues in their complaint letter addressed to him noting how they were unhappy with his actions. They noted that he was an outsider whom they asserted came to meddle in their affairs and yet they had been co-existing peacefully. He felt that he had a duty to respond to all the issues that were addressed principally since he was of the opinion that he championed a noble cause. He believed that after discussing these matters then the authors and other people who were to get the contents of the letter were going to reconsider their position on the issue at hand.
The audience to the letter was primarily the several clergymen who were all practicing in the town of Birmingham. These clergies believed that they were in a position of more authority than anyone who was purportedly from outside their region. Since they were the ones who had been interacting with the congregants in this area, they were of the opinion that they were better placed to know about their problems and needs and how to deal with them. The other people to whom the letter was targeted were the residents and other stakeholders who were to be informed about what was happening as they might have been ignorant of the same. In any given situation there were also neighbors who might not have been exhibiting the problem but needed to learn from what was taking place for the sake of their problems in future. It was also worth noting that there were members of the civil society and other well-wishers who after getting to know what takes place may have wanted to step in and assist the local inhabitants in addressing and getting a solution to their issues just like the author.
When it comes to pathos, the audience was concerned with the qualification, experience or knowledge that the author could be having with the issues that he or she was addressing. He had to command some respect from having been involved in the given field and having educational and other forms of training that were commensurate with this. Martin Luther King Junior was one person who had several roles in the society that used to make up his day in the society. Longaker and Walker asserted that there could be those who may have been asking where he got the authority to involve himself in matters touching on abuse, segregation, and mostly human rights. He had a sociology degree and also undertook studies from a theological college (74). He was at the time of taking part in the Birmingham protests a Baptist minister and one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Furthermore, he was the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that he was instrumental in founding which was active in leading protests and civil rights activities.
Martin Luther can be said to have been gifted in writing as he appealed to the audience’s emotions throughout his writing. He had a good selection of words and would make one want to read from the beginning to the end. His ideas were flowing consistently from the beginning all the way to the end and made the reader sympathize with the situation of the victims in the town. He was not rude and sought to differ with their assertions and their position without being offensive and would have made one who was holding a contrary opinion to have thought twice. Through his writing, he took the reader to the scene, and one was in a position to relate on a one to one basis with what was taking place on the ground. One felt guilty at the end of the reading for not having done something concerning the problems that the residents of Birmingham were facing. One definitely got to feel an attachment to the concerned parties and felt like as if they were next door neighbors (Vail 291). He made it appear like what they were facing was going to ha...