Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Essential Questions?

• How does language influence the way we think, act, and perceive the world?

• How does an individual’s point of view affect how he deals with conflict?

Aristotle’s Rhetorical Appeals

• Pathos

• Ethos

• Logos

Cicero’s Advice on Organization

Seven Organizational Tools:• Entrance (Introduction)• Narration (Facts)• Proposition (Central Theme)• Division (Outline or Summary of Argument)• Confirmation

(Discussion/Analysis/Authority)• Rebuttal (Anticipation of Adverse

Arguments)• Conclusion

Pattern/Classical

King will loosely follow the classical argumentative pattern of

--exordium (introduction) --exposito (exposition) --confirmatio (argument) --confutatio (rebuttal), and --peroratio (conclusion)

Argument Presented

• Extension of the democratic argument developed by John Locke– Used by Thomas Jefferson in the

Declaration of Independence

Argument by analogy

The Parts of the Letter

• Introduction • Reasons why he is not an

outsider• How the organization has

tried negotiation• Refutes accusations • Argument• Counterarguments• Conclusion

Alex Irvine writes,

• "This salutation, and the five paragraphs which follow, form a perfect example of the classical exordium, in which the rhetorician attempts to do the following things:

Establish good will -Summarize the writer's approach

to the topic --Lay the groundwork for an

argument that the subject has been misunderstood or misrepresented

Present credentials

Background: Letter from Alabama Clergymen

April 12, 1963[W]e are now confronted by a series of

demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders. . . .

[W]e also point out that such actions as incite to hatred and violence, however technically peaceful those actions may be, have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems. . . .

We further strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham. When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets.

Ideas from “Letter”

Four Steps of any Nonviolent CampaignDistinction between Just and Unjust LawsNonviolent Resistance as a Middle Path between Passivity and Violent ResistanceThe Nature of Time

Four Steps in a Nonviolent Campaign

Collection of the FactsNegotiationSelf-PurificationDirect Action

Unjust Laws

An unjust law is one “out of harmony with the moral law.”

“Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Application to segregation

A law is unjust if a minority group is forced to obey but didn’t help enact, or if the majority doesn’t have to follow it, or if it is unfairly applied in practice.

Nonviolent Resistance

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”King stresses the need for “creative extremism” that avoids both the “do-nothingism” of the complacent or apathetic and the “despair” of mindless violence.

Presence of Time

A “tragic misconception of time” that change will come about inevitably; King insists that “time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively....Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”“Justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Rhetorical Appeals

• Ethos

• Pathos

• Logos

Ethos

• Establishing common ground

• Establishing who he is

• And…

Rhetorical Appeals

• Logos:– Refutes the Clergymen's Arguments One

by One– Argues on a Practical Level and a

Philosophical Level– Uses Syllogisms

Logos

• Outsiders Have No Right To Protest

• Dr. King is an Outsider

• Therefore, Dr. King has No Right to Protest

Pathos

– use of storytelling and details to evoke emotion

– use of anaphora (repetition of word or group of words)

– alliteration and other sound combinations

– imagery

The Three Appeals

• Logic Is Not the Only Way to Persuade– Immediate, Practical Arguments– Deeper, Philosophical, Moral Arguments

• Remember Pathos – Use Imagery, Narrative, Literary Devices, and Detail to

Make the Reader Want to Agree with You– Know Your Audience

• Remember Ethos– Compel Your Reader to Respect You and Your Argument

Scorecard

Player Won Drawn Lost Points

John Smith 3 0 0 9

Jane Brown 2 1 0 7

Sam White 2 0 1 6

Terry Blue 1 1 0 4

Sally Green 1 0 2 3

Jean Black 0 3 0 3

Tina Scarlet 0 2 2 2

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