Letter from Birmingham Jail Rhetorical Appeals

Line from Letter from Birmingham Jail Type of Logical Appeal Explain
pathos, logos, ethos
“when you suddenly find your tongue twisted It relates to people’s Dr King uses emotions such as sadness and a parents’ need to make their
and your speech stammering as you seek to emotions, Pathos. children’s happy and by stating the fact that they will have to explain such
explain to your six-year-old daughter why she injustices to their children, it makes people want to fight these injustices.
can’t go to the public amusement park that
has just been advertised on television, and see
the tears welling up in her little eyes when she
is told that Funtown is closed to colored
children.

Since we so diligently urge people to obey the
Supreme Court's decision of 1954 outlawing
segregation in the public schools, at first
glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us
consciously to break laws.
It relates to people’s sense On this speech, Dr King explains how it is hard for people to fight the
of right or wrong, Ethos. segregation law because we are always told to obey the law, making the
fact of not obeying the wrong thing to do.

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust It relates to someone’s Dr King appeals to facts and experiences that have marked history as a way
in its application. For instance, I have been sense of logic, Logos of trying to make people realize that they do not want to find themselves
arrested on a charge of parading without a on that kind of situation again. It also uses examples of his life, appealing to
permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having the First Amendment and how it is applied only when people in charge find
an ordinance which requires a permit for a it convenient.
parade. 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.

We should never forget that everything Adolf

Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and
everything the Hungarian freedom fighters
did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to
aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany.
 Comparing Kairos
I Have a Dream Speech and Letter from Birmingham Jail Comparison

Explain the kairos appeal in both texts. Include the timing and location for
each. Then, answer the following questions:
1. Did the speech or letter have more of a sense of urgency?
2. How did the timing and setting of each one advance the cause that
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was pleading? Make sure to discuss both.
On his letter, written while he was in Birmingham Jail, on April 16, 1963, Dr
King uses Kairos as an appeal to urgency, and it addressed the right people
at the right time.
On his speech, which took place on August 28, 1963, during the 100th
celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, Dr King, used this place and
time to ensure that his speech resonated across the country.
As I said before, the letter has a bigger sense of urgency, needing an impact
faster than the speech did.
On his letter, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used his situation to make a bigger
impact on people and the way they saw the law and its forces.
While on his speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the moment and
place would make his message to be heard by a larger amount of people
and with that, making it resonate across the country, even to people that
weren’t there.