Gabriella Hernandez

Letter from Birmingham Jail pg. 799

Take a close look at Kings rhetorical strategies. Provide one example
of each of the following, and describe how and why King uses it.
Inductive Reasoning: I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion
that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the
White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate,
who is more devoted to "order" than to justice.
In his observation, he focuses on not just a group of racists but the group of
people who just sit back and try not to disturb or cause an upraise.
Deductive Reasoning: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere.
Using this sentence he points out that whatever example is set for other
nations will affect their actions as well. By stating that having injustice in any
place will set an example for other places, therefore if other places follow
this example they too will become victims of injustice.
Pathos: We know through painful experience that freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
This quote from the passage was used by Dr. King to appeal to emotion. By
expressing the pain that people must go through in order to obtain freedom,
he gains the sympathy of the reader. At the same time his words give you a
sense of strength because he says that freedom must be demanded and
fought for.
Ethos: I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro
church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle.
In this example, Dr. King appeals to the ethical stance of the argument. He
states that he is thankful for the use of nonviolence in their protest against
racial segregation. Using this example in his letter shows his ethical view on
the matter of fighting for their rights, which is through peaceful protest.
Logos: But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain
segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful
assembly and protest.
Through the appeal to logic in this statement, King sets off a switch in
peoples heads that says is a law really just when it denies its citizens

rights? By using this part of the letter hes told his audience that what they
believe to be right and just goes against their own logic.