Letter From Birmingham Jail:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was well versed in the rhetorical theory of Aristotle and Plato. To Aristotle, strong rhetoric (i.e., strong arguments) should have balanced appeals to the sources of persuasion.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was well versed in the rhetorical theory of Aristotle and Plato. To Aristotle, strong rhetoric (i.e., strong arguments) should have balanced appeals to the sources of persuasion.
Pick a section of King's letter and identify where he appeals to the classical sources of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos. You will not have to look very hard! King's letter can be viewed as a case study for appealing to the sources of persuasion.
Click here to view Letter From Birmingham Jail:
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
Also, use this as a reference to identify the sources of persuasion:
http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html
For your comment:
- List a few passages where you think Dr. King effectively appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos and explain why.
- Finally, write down ways you can apply King's methods in your essays for this class. How will you take advantage of the sources of persuasion? How can you use the sources of persuasion to craft arguments for your essays? How can you reference the sources of persuasion to respond to (i.e., critique) another argument such as, Casey's article or Brooks' essay?
Left to Right: Plato and Aristotle-Really old rhetoricians!
In the passage that begins with "We have waited for more than 340 years. . ." King appeals a lot to ethos when he describes what it is like to have to tell a daughter that she cannot go to the popular new amusement park because she is colored. He uses phrases such as "tongue twisted" which describe the feeling and experience very accurately. He shows how backwards the country was compared to others by comparing their progress to ours and the way that blacks in America were struggling just to get a cup of coffee at a diner without being persecuted and told to leave merely because of the color of their skin. He also appeals to pathos when he describes how inferior blacks were treated at the time. We all want to be treated fairly, so his description of being oppressed gives a frightening look into what it is like to be persecuted and thought of as less than human. To use King's persuasive ways in my essays for this class, i will use descriptive language and really try to make the reader feel like he/she is in my shoes or whoever's shoes I am using in an anecdote. To use these sources of persuasion in essay 3, i will describe how marijuana users are treated legally in modern society and how this is unfair, given the crime that they committed. I also have used an anecdote of a high school student trying pot for the first time, which really could happen to anyone.
ReplyDeleteDr. King thoroughly hits each source of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos. It was blatantly obvious at the points at which he used them. Dr. King uses a strong sense of ethos when he says: "Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the 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 uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust" (King). In that brief paragraph he managed to work at our sense of ethics and morals. King appeals to our sense of pathos when he states: "Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid" (King). Here, he does an excellent job at playing at our emotions; people at his time were much attached religiously. Finally, Dr. King appeals to the last source of persuasion, logos, when he states: "In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham" (King). Dr. King, in the aforesaid statement, appeals to logos directly because it appeals to our sense of logic and reasoning.
ReplyDeleteDr. King's strong sense of persuasion should definitely be able to help me in writing essays for this class. If I learn to balance and use all three sources of persuasion successfully, I can write to my fullest potential. If one uses all of the sources strongly in their essay, normally people will have a difficult time displacing your reasoning and thus being able to see eye to eye and agree with your view of the topic more often. I can use Dr. King's strong methods of persuasion in my third essay by appealing to ethics/morals, logic, and emotions equally and strongly. My third essay pertains to global warming. I can easily appeal to pathos by writing about the destruction of habitats of innocent animals. I can appeal to ethos by writing about the destruction of humanity and the earth we live on. Finally, I can appeal to logos by stating facts that researchers have done on the release of excess carbon into the atmosphere.
1. I think that Dr. King appeals to the sources of persuasion throughout the letter, but specifically, he refers to Ethos in the passage where he says “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.” Here I think Dr. King wants the readers to realize the injustice that has occurred in an ethical and moral sense. He appeals to Pathos i believe when he says
ReplyDelete“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. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country's anti-religious laws.”
Because he knows how much pain was cause by Hitlers actions and he wants them to look at that and recognize that injustice, really bringing about their emotion on the subject. finally I think he appeals to Logos when he says
“Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” I think that by explaining justice and injustice a little further, he taps into the readers logical sense allowing them to really form a solid opinion by using knowledge and logic.
2. Each writer has their own unique way of forming an argument, and incorporating sources of persuasion into their pieces. I think that King does a great job of cutting to the core of his readers by making them understand and feel the injustice that had been suffocating the Black community for centuries. After skimming Kings Letter, I think that Pathos is a huge element of persuading an audience! Being able to apply something to a readers emotion seems to be the most effective way of convincing them of something. In my essay, I am going to go back and try to really hit that on the head. Attacking emotion, as well as ethics and logic are great ways to pull an audience in one way or another.
1. “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights.” This paragraph demonstrates pathos. It does this by giving a number of different examples that show the intense emotion and importance of the situation.
ReplyDelete“You may well ask: ‘Why direct action?”
This paragraph demonstrates ethos. King makes his actions credible by explaining that simple negotiation has not and will not accomplish anything in this situation and that nonviolent direct action is necessary to reach their goals.
“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal”’
This paragraph demonstrates logos because it gives a fact (everything Hitler did was indeed legal) and uses this fact to logically explain his reasons for disobeying the laws.
2. In essay three, I can use specific examples, even if they don’t necessarily relate to my topic, to connect emotionally with my target audience. I can use ethos by relating to credible articles. I can use statistics about adoption to appeal to logos. I can use the fact that many children don’t have a family to appeal to ethos, targeting peoples emotions.
Dr. King appeals to pathos when he talks about a young boy’s words. He states, “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?” This makes the reader feel empathetic towards the young, helpless boy.
ReplyDeleteThen he appeals to logos when he states, “We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South.” This is a fact/statistic that may have an impact on the reader. When people see actually numbers and statistics it can be way more effective than just saying a lot.
Lastly, he appeals to ethos when he asks, “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust?” This definitely questions someone’s ethics and makes them think about what is fair in society. I think putting this in a question form makes people think about it a lot more than just stating it.
I can use some of Dr. King’s methods to help me in writing my essay. I can do what he did, and clearly create examples of each of these writing techniques. They will draw the reader in and help create a more structured piece of writing, like Dr. King’s. The example of the young boy really made me feel empathetic and I think using children in a pathos appeal can be work very well because they seem so small and helpless. Also, I noticed that posing questions can make the reader think more.
Dr. King states, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.” This quote gives him credibility among anyone who reads his response. It tells them who he is and what he is in charge of, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
ReplyDeleteLater he goes to say, “your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.” This whole statement hits logos on the head and shows the logic and purpose of the demonstration, or in other words why he was placed in jail.
King strikes up the idea of pathos in his written not only to display the truth but also to get arise out of people to touch them in a way that they would like to act on the issues at large. King writes, “As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us.” Here he uses sympathy to catch the hearts of the people.
King’s response is ideal to show the art of persuasion. After reading his work, I now understand different ideas and ways that I can follow King and implement them into my essay, giving it a strong method of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. I was able to bring up many strong facts in my argument thus far but need more ways to prove my credibility and give people reason to follow my ideas.
In the seventh paragraph of the letter, Dr. King reflects appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. He is reassuring his credibility of the situations at stake because he gave a date when he was given the opportunity to talk with the leaders of Birmingham’s economic community, and also his name alone will give a reader automatic credibility because he was a well respected and noted leader of time. Dr. King gains the reader’s emotional appeals because in this paragraph he goes into detail of the ongoing racial discrimination of this time. He explains how segregation signs were supposed to be taken down in public areas, yet they were not, only crushing the hopes of the black community. Dr. King appeals to logos because in return of the disappointment generated from the signs, he explains the next step the community needed to take. He reassures the reader that they acted out in a nonviolent ways to apply their direct action.
ReplyDeleteKing’s main method of writing in the letter was effective use of ethos, pathos, and logos. I can use the same methods by showing strong appeals to these sources of persuasion. I will take advantage of these sources in my essay by including my credibility as the author, emotional appeals, logical appeals, as well as personal anecdotes to further persuade my readers. By using the sources of persuasion you can actually craft arguments because in a sense you as the author are shaping the idea of your essay and reflecting points that will influence your viewer’s beliefs and outlooks. By using the sources of persuasion you can respond to other arguments and announcements by including your personal input on the topic, and can maybe change the ideas of others.
In the paragraph starting with, “We have waited for more than 340 years…” uses the pathos appeal and show a side of African Americans that only they can truly relate to. He mentions, “when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters” which is directed towards pathos to uncover emotion within the reader.
ReplyDeleteIn the paragraph just after the one mentioned above, Dr. King relates to the ethos or the ethical side of the argument speaking mainly of the law and human right. He furthers, “Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful.” Can be seen as ethos because King makes a comment about what is fair.
In a passage about morality when focusing on the laws and how they are carried out, Dr. King continues “ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.” This is appealing to logos because it uses the First Amendment as conclusive evidence and fact regarding the topic.
Dr. King appeals to all the sources of persuasion throughout his letter. He does this by incorporating them into many paragraphs as one, instead of appealing to one aspect at a time. His balance of the three is just right, leaving the reader with little to nothing to question. In essay three, I need to balance the three sources equally throughout the paper because it makes the work much more credible. For my topic, long-term traumatic brain injuries in sports, I will use logos for hard evidence; ethos for morality in coaching and paying injured players; and pathos in the sense that this could be related to everyone because most people play sports or they have children in them. Having a successful balance of all the appeals will call for a credible essay, the way Dr. King did.
1. Martin Luther King used pathos, ethos, and logos in Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
ReplyDeleteMartin Luther King used pathos when he said, “I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.” He made people sympathize for the way Negros were being treated by the police by telling the people what the police did to the Negros while in jail.
MLK uses logos when he says, “Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.” He is using logical information to support his argument.
He uses ethos when he says, “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.” Here he is trying to help the readers understand exactly what was going on during this time.
2. I used ethos, pathos, and logos in my PSA assignment. My PSA was on drinking in college and I talked about ways for students to stay safe, alternatives to drinking, and the effects of alcohol. I used pathos by explaining all the terrible things drinking can do to a college student. When students read about all the awful outcomes that could happen after a night where they get “wasted”, it really plays with their minds and makes them think about how they are going to control themselves the next time they go out and party. I used logic when I used all my stats on the amounts of deaths there have been from college students drinking too much and when I talked about the percentages of underage students who drink, and so on.
1. Dr. King presents numerous ethos, pathos and logos appeals throughout his entire letter. In the very beginning of his essay I noticed he appealed to pathos. He states, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny”. He is appealing to his well being as well as others. He states that what affects one of us affects us all.
ReplyDeleteAbout a quarter of the way down his letter I noticed a strong appeal to logos. He asks us what is the difference between the two? (he Is referring to “a moral responsibility to obey just laws and a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”). He is appealing to logic here in our thinking. Both of these things are the same concepts so how do we determine if laws or just or unjust because everyone has their own opinions. Just a few lines down from this, Dr. King presents an ethos reference. He talks about how he was arrested for parading without a permit. He has been through similar things that others have, like being treated unjustly. He really relates to others because he has been in their shoes.
2.You could pick pieces out all day from this letter all day. Dr. King was such a great persuader whether its in speeches or letters. King’s methods will defiantly help me with using more persuasions in my 3rd essay when I go back to revise it. The sources of persuasion will help a lot because it makes my essay much stronger if I can present information and influence people to really think about what I am writing about. It is all about your wording of things; you can take facts and options and make them more persuasive to get your audience to really think about your topic. I used some sources of persuasion in my essay like statistics and my own personal anecdote. Thinking more now about sources of persuasion will definitely help when I revise because I can change a few things here and there to make my essay more convincing to my audience.
Dr. King effectively appeals to the sources of persuasion in many different spots in the letter. An example of this includes when he says, "I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." or "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights". This makes us think using all the sources of persuasion because we think about what is morally right, what is going on, why it is happening and how we feel about the issue in a very powerful way.
ReplyDeleteWe can apply Dr. King’s methods by thinking about who our audience is and how it will applies to them, much as Dr. King did. He knew who all would see this letter so he wrote it to appeal to all them. If we use this technique it can make our essays much more powerful, just like his. We can use his technique to help us with how we word things and think about what will be most effective, as well as persuasive to our audience. It is important to talk about things that are relevant to the audience in order to be persuasive.
According to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham, it is obvious that King is able to use Pathos, Logos, and Ethos all proficiently. It is important to note how he uses each of these English ideals so that I may learn from his writing styles and start applying them to my compositions. One of the most mature things he does is playing on the readers emotions while remaining completely factual. An example of disguising pathos with a little bit of logos would be when King says,
ReplyDelete“There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case.”
Another example of King’s abilities to incorporate these ideas into his writing is when he talks about the laws set by the Supreme Court about segregation.
“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. One may well ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust.”
Here he uses Ethos by addressing laws and justice. He talks about the ethical side of what he’s doing in Birmingham Prison.
Overall in my essay I try to always use ethos by only using credible resources like scholarly journals. I use pathos by incorporating an anecdote within my research, and logos is easily added in by inserting facts and statistics.
When explaining why he is in Birmingham jail, King makes the reader empathetic towards his situation and makes the reader see the injustice of what has happened to him. He also points out the wrongdoing of the government. He explains the injustice of his situation. This shows persuasion in pathos and logos respectively. When he explains the importance of each act of injustice, he is using logos to tell the reader why they all matter. He logically breaks it down so that the reader can understand.
ReplyDeleteLater in the letter, King says:
In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community.
He is creating credibility for himself by using ethos and logos to explain what he does.
Later in the paragraph he explains how when Negros are the victim, the crime often goes unsolved. This shows pathos, because the reader will feel bad for the victims and possibly empathize.
By having this example in front of me where I can search for the logos ethos and pathos, I can use the same strategy to look for ethos logos and pathos in my paper. I will skim through and look for places where I use it, and possibly think of new places where I can throw it in. I am considering taking a more personal tone and making stronger ties between my anecdote and purpose. I could also break down the situation on an ethical and logical level, to more fully explain my position. If I look at this paper and study how he achieves his persuasion, it is possible that I can use some of the same strategies to achieve mine.
I think he applies ethos when he describes the 4 steps to a non-violent petition. It gives him credibility and plays on ethics.
ReplyDeleteI think he goes for pathos when he uses the phrase: "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter." I think that really hits home with a lot of people and shows the importance of the matter.
I believe he uses logos when he talks of questioning if people can be threatened and hit without retaliation. This is his whole idea of a non-violent campaign and it is logical to not engage in any violence because it would negate the point of a "non" violent petition.
I will be able to use pathos, logos and ethos in my writing to give myself credibility and to make the audience relate –to or connect with my piece. They can help me to target a certain audience or encompass the general peoples attention.
A part in Dr. King’s letter that has a part of persuasion is the 7th paragraph. King uses an example of where different people come together and how that affected him and his understanding. King uses first person prefixes and the emotions that everyone shared. King uses rhetorical questions, which shows how he feels about everything and what it does to himself. King uses others opinions and what they did around the time to support his facts. King does a good job explaining and uses persuasion throughout the letter and gets the reader to feel the feelings that he was going through at the time.
ReplyDeleteWhile writing my papers I use persuasion to get my point across to the reader and to support my facts. I think that using persuasion makes more of a connection to the writer to the reader. It makes the reader understand more of what is going on and how they are feeling.