Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Rhetoric

Martin Luther King Jr. was adept at expressing himself and persuasive in his arguments. His "I Have a Dream" speech is probably his most famous, but his earlier argument in "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is also well-known. The two works differ in their audience, their intent, and the way they shape their arguments, though both are carefully designed to appeal to their respective audiences and to persuade members of that audience to a point of view. The audience for "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a group of clergymen, many of whom had criticized King for his actions. The audience for "I Have a Dream" consisted of thousands of people gathered in Washington for a rally, along with all those watching and listening on television and radio.

The letter is much longer in keeping with the fact that it is to be read, and its argument is also more complex because the reader has more time to digest it, to re-read it, if necessary, and to consider the different concepts being offered. Other important elements are meant to create a bond between King and those to whom the letter is directed, from the opening salutation to "My Fellow Clergymen" to other references to the readers linking them to the writer of the letter by common interests and positions--he refers to his leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference operating in their states, he links himself in this way with the city of Birmingham to do away with the complaint that "outsiders" were coming in, and he ap

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thing that does not concern him, and he begins by showing why it does. First, he says, he was invited. Second, he is in Birmingham because there is an injustice being committed there, and any right-thinking human being has an obligation to fight against injustice wherever it occurs. Third, he says that all communities are interrelated and cannot be cut off from others as if what happens in one has no effect on the rest of the country (114). King then chides his critics for criticizing the demonstrations and not the reason why the demonstrations came about in the first place. In this letter, King writes at times as if lecturing on various issues. King includes some of the history of the demonstrations and other information he clearly believes his audience does not have or has not understood. He talks about the concept of civil disobedience and how to determine which laws are just, which are unjust, and which should be challenged and even broken as a means of protest. It is evident that he is speaking to a group educated as he is and open to persuasion through reason and argument, assuming that the argument is carefully developed and reasonable in its assumptions. His audience is also made up of clergymen who have a partic

Category: Psychology - A