Why Martin Luther King Junior’s Letter Is So Brilliant
Plain, bland, boring, emotionless everything writing can be without rhetorical devices, in about every type of writing there will be the use of rhetorical devices that help support your claim and can give your writing a signature style, if used correctly. Martin Luther King Junior has written plenty of pieces with devices that advanced his argument, persuaded his reader, and got his reader thinking. In his letter, “A letter from Birmingham” in “Chapters 13 through 14”, Martin Luther King Junior writes in a sense of urgency for his reader, to show how quickly action needs to be taken. The use of devices allows king to give his honest opinions about the unjust laws of segregation, and about giving equal laws to all people in America.
He knew when leaving it to the government, they wouldn’t do anything because they didn’t want the changes, and because of the protests had him jailed. Devices allowed King to make his point in different ways, rather than the use of literal terms, he uses an analogy to show how slow America is proceeding to getting rid of segregation laws,”… but we still creep at a horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter,” (Chapter 14). Using an analogy like this showed his readers that they were making little or no effort in changing laws and that King couldn’t “wait” anymore and would have to take matters into his hands with peaceful protests. King and his fellow people couldn’t “wait” anymore due to the day to day problems African Americans had to deal with,” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sister and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policeman curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters… when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.” (Chapter 14). He used this to reveal the problems his fellow people have to go through every day, to show the pain they are going through, and to explain why his peaceful protests are needed, and mainly to bring out the emotions like anger, disgust, and sympathy in his fellow clergymen. The pathos leads to a