Letter from Birmingham Jail Essay

Rachael Kerr
AP English 11
October 14, 2009
Letter from Birmingham Jail Essay
Martin Luther King Junior’s Persuasive Syntax, Diction, and Rhetoric
In April of 1963 one of the nation’s best know activist, Martin Luther King Jr., released a ground-breaking letter that would stay in the hearts and on the tongue of thousands: Letter from Birmingham Jail. This letter was not ground-breaking because of who wrote it, where he wrote it from, or what it was even written about; this letter was ground-breaking because of King’s flawless use of the English language. King’s diction was aggressive, assertive, and relentless; he made his points, made them seem as concrete as fact, and he did this all throughout his letter. His tone was impassioned and powerful; this showed his commitment to his cause and made his status as a civil rights activist undeniable. Although these factors are nonetheless crucial, they are second-best to King’s other brilliant uses of literary devices and rhetoric. King’s use of syntax is the most persuasive element in his letter, closely followed by his paired use of logic and emotion.
King’s impeccable use of the English language begins with his several varied uses of the element of syntax. A first example would be his use of parallelisms: “If you would watch them push and cure old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you would see them slap and kick old Negro men and young Negro boys” (King 751). By using this device, King brings attention to this sentence with the repetition of certain phrases and parallel set up. A second example is his use of juxtaposition: “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward the goal of political independence and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter” (742). Here, he places our situation next to that of what would be considered less progressive nations in order to accentuate our misunderstanding. These examples alone could be elaborated on and be perfect demonstrations of King’s mastery of the art of language, but there are more.
Another example would be King’s use of antitheses: “They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment” (750). Again, this draws attention to this sentence by using strong imagery of two unalike things. In addition, he uses a literary device known as inversion. By using this, King forces you to consider a commonly held belief from a new perspective: “One has not only a legal but moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” (743). By altering the readers’ perspective, he forces them to think from the view he has asserted. Also, his use of cumulative sentences are genius: “I say it as a minister of the gospel who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen” (748). By using additional information at the beginning of his sentence, King is able to strengthen his point that follows. While these devices may not seem as important as the others, this is fallacy. Their job is to bring attention to King’s writing, and for King at this time, he needs his audience to pay attention to his argument, otherwise he will have no chance to alter their views. After all of these, it would seem obvious that King had already proven his point, yes? Unfortunately this is untrue, because of the time period King lives in; he is forced to go on with even more examples of his firm command of public speaking.
These further examples of King’s eloquence appear more than once in his letter. The first example would be the use of periodic sentences; on page 742 in the middle section, King writes an extensive section filled with examples, without the use of any punctuation but a semicolon so that the sentence runs on and builds to the conclusion. He does this to bring about empathy from his readers, because after reading this section, readers will be so exhausted that they will say the last sentence with the exhaustion King feels for this matter. Finally, the strongest and most effective use of syntax would be King’s use of rhetoric. A perfect example would be as King enters his section about just and unjust laws: “One may ask, ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer is found in that fact that there are two types of laws” (742). The perfection of this is that it anticipates counter arguments and silences it before it can be legitimized. Counter-argument could be a large problem because people hear what they want to hear, and if King does not address this, many would consider that a legitimate invalidation of his whole argument, not just this single point; they would call him a hypocrite and be done with him. While these examples are all perfect reasons to see King’s argument as a flawless one, another element remains to further fulfill it.
After King’s strong demonstration of his fluency using literary devices, his combined use of logic and emotion brings his point further to the hearts and minds of the readers. In this exhibition, King uses the two differing rhetorical devices in a process that peaks in its effects. First, he bombards the reader with logic; he shows them fact after fact, displaying his view as fact, and discrediting any rebuttal. Next, he uses vivid language, and lucid imagery to heighten the readers’ emotions and get them to feel as he feels. Finally, he strikes with more logic at the climax of this mental rapture, when it is most crucial and his audience is most vulnerable to convincing. The perfect example begins on 741 and almost does not seem to end. To begin with, King speaks logically of why he acted when he did, as he refutes why he could wait. Then, he follows with a long passage of example of the terrible things those affected by this injustice must go through. In the end, he recedes to logically pointing out why it is acceptable to break unjust laws. This passage is an essential part of King’s letter, and while the pairing of logic and emotion happens in several places throughout his argument, this passage in particular is the most memorable and perhaps a main climax of his contention. In addition to his syntax, King’s use of logic and emotion makes his argument a most persuasive one.
King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is an immaculate representation of how syntax and rhetoric can affect how an argument is received by readers. The application of the literary devices such as parallelism and inversions accompanied with the paired utilization of logic and emotion make King’s argument unbelievably alluring. By changing his writing with the use of such tools, King not only keeps the attention of his audience, he demonstrate his command of the English language, and makes his position much more prominent and actuating. While all this might seem overdone and extensive, at the time King needed to write like this, and nothing short of this. If King did not express himself flawlessly, and make his point seem as undoubted fact, the people he was aiming at would dismiss his argument without a second thought. Although this is a cruel fact of the life he was living, in hind-sight, readers of a later age are privileged to read such an unblemished, ideal argument that uses every aspect of the English language in a culminating progression to be the epitome of an inveigling debate.