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Letter from Birmingham Jail

Letter from Birmingham Jail. Review. Rhetorical strategies. Classical appeals: ethos, pathos, logos Metaphors/Analogies Allusions Repetition Syllogism Anaphora. Appeals. Ethos/Writer. Logos/Message. Pathos/Audience. Appeals. Ethos. Logos. Pathos. Context.

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Letter from Birmingham Jail

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  1. Letter from Birmingham Jail Review

  2. Rhetorical strategies • Classical appeals: ethos, pathos, logos • Metaphors/Analogies • Allusions • Repetition • Syllogism • Anaphora

  3. Appeals Ethos/Writer Logos/Message Pathos/Audience

  4. Appeals Ethos Logos Pathos

  5. Context • Martin Luther King, Jr., was a civil rights leader known for non-violent protests. • He and his followers were jailed on Good Friday in Birmingham, Alabama for breaking the law against public demonstrations. • While he was in jail, a group of clergymen published a letter in the newspaper criticizing his presence and his strategies.

  6. The Clergymen’s Accusations • King is an outsider and should not be involved in local business. • He and his followers should negotiate for change rather than demonstrate. • Their actions are “untimely.” • There is no justification for breaking the law.

  7. Syllogism A chain of reasoning moving from general, universal principles to specific instances. Parts of a syllogism include a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion. Example: • All people are mortal. (major premise) • Aristotle was a person. (minor premise) • Therefore, Aristotle was mortal. (conclusion)

  8. Clergymen’s Syllogism? • What is the syllogism at work in the argument the clergymen made that it was wrong to King to be involved in their community because he was an outsider.

  9. Syllogism • “Outsiders” should not be leading local protests • King is an “outsider” • Therefore, King should not be leading local protests

  10. King’s Response • King responded to the letter, at first on the margins of the newspaper where the letter appeared and then on a tablet his attorneys got permission to give him.

  11. What was King’s purpose? • To persuade local clergymen of the rightness of his action • To help unite the African-American community • To reach out to the white political moderate

  12. Anaphora • Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of two or more successive clauses or sentences. • “I have a dream. . . . . I have a dream. . . I have a dream. . . .”

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