For MLK's piece, you are going to do a SRR. Each section should have 4-8 sentences. And please make sure to dialogue with others.
Summarize—in this section you will as clearly and accurately as you can explain/summarize/describe the reading. In other words, what happened? Make sure you give specific details, and you can and should quote directly from the reading.
Respond— in second section you will discuss the overall effect of the reading. What I am looking for is a reaction to the reading; however, you must defend your reaction with specific and concrete reasoning. You cannot simply say “I do not like” or “I really enjoyed” with no discussion. This is your chance to engage with the reading on a more personal level.
Reflect— in this last section you will situate the reading within our class. How does the reading respond to what we have been discussing? What was MLK's rhetorical situation he was responding to (feel free to break it down using all of the terms Bitzer used to define rhetorical situation in other words feel free to say "the context for the situation was..." or "the exigence for the situation was..."). How will you apply the reading to your own understanding of writing?
Due: Thursday, September 19, 2013 by class time.
Marin Luther King Junior wrote this letter while he was imprisoned for protesting segregation in Birmingham Alabama. He had participated in non-violent protests, and was arrested as a result.He wrote in response clergymen from the city who decried his actions in protesting segregation as poorly timed and broadly misplaced. They favored negotiation over direct confrontation and action. However, MLK believed that segregationists would never accede to negotiations at all without being pressured by such protests.
ReplyDeleteI think that MLK wrote the letter in a clear and concise manner. He was not attempting to create invective, to be used as fuel on the fire of conflict. Rather he succeeded in being conciliatory, realizing that he and his audience were working towards the same ultimate cause. To my mind, that is what is so impressive about MLK. He never let his anger or frustrations with his opponents or potential allies sway him from his path. He was always kind and gracious, willing to see the other side's view, but determined nonetheless to persevere.
In this particular case, MLK was responding directly to a letter of complaint written by his fellow clergymen. However, the audience was much broader than those who wrote the letter, and the overall situation was fueled by more than merely the letter. His protests which prompted the letter were created by the situation of segregation prevalent at the time throughout the south. And the letter was thus intended to reach not just the clergymen to whom he wrote it, but also all those sitting on the fence about segregation throughout the country. What makes his writing successful is the tone of the work: MLK was edifying without being condescending. He assumed the moral high ground without making his rivals seem small. This is important to apply to any type of writing you make where you are attempting to persuade or inform your audience.
I totally agree. MLK was clearly very opinionated and felt strongly for this topic but he never wrote with anger-- or at least as I reader, I couldn't tell. He sounded very professional and made the reader feel sorry about the subject rather than mad. It was still a strong piece and he sounded very credible. It didn't sound like an angry prisoner writing a hate letter. He was very educated sounding, too.
DeleteLetter from Birmingham Jail is a direct response from Martin Luther King, Jr to a group of white Alabaman priests who claimed a few days prior that racial segregation was not a matter to be settled by protests, but rather in the courts of law. The clergymen criticized King for creating unneeded tension in Birmingham during a nonviolent protest. King refuted their beliefs and stated that creating tension is essential to causing change. Change does not occur without the tension that brings the issue to light. In response to the clergymen’s argument of waiting for the “inevitable” law change, King stated, “this ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’.” King addresses the morality of breaking the law by asserting, “one has the moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws” and “an unjust law is no law at all.”
ReplyDeleteKing’s writing is extraordinarily powerful; his metaphors gripped me right away. The personality is persistent throughout and he is obviously pouring his whole heart into this letter. His arguments based off the contradictions embedded in the moral and legal systems are especially strong. When he talks about our moral responsibilities, it makes me wonder why so many people can accept a belief that they know is morally wrong. Yet, like Richard said earlier, he is still so gracious with his writing. Granted, he speaks directly to the “white moderate” about his disappointment in them, but still acknowledged he may have been “too optimistic” and “expected too much” of them.
Although King wrote in response to the priests mentioned earlier, this was an open letter addressing a much broader issue than a few priests’ criticism. The rhetorical situation driving King to write this letter was the unjust laws of racial segregation in the Southern United States. The exigence consisted of the laws set in place that segregated blacks and the audience was not only the Southern United States, but also the entire world. This is corroborated by King’s statement in the beginning of the letter, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The constraints of the situation were the laws themselves and the culture of the South at the time. It included the priests who told King to wait, along with the police who threw King into the Birmingham jail. Although King realizes these constraints, he does not completely lambast them. He instead proposes solutions instead of merely criticizing the system. This is essential to writing in my opinion and it is why King’s letter works so well.
It was definitely a powerful piece! It was so obvious that he believes in this subject wholeheartedly and really urges the audience to feel the same way as him. I agree too that it was strong that he didn't just criticize the entire time. Instead, he spoke of solutions and ways to fix the ruined system of society.
DeleteI strongly agree that it was a powerful writing, and he is pouring his whole heart into this letter. His deeply thought, all the condition he noticed and all the sacrifice he payed demonstrate he completely devotes himself to protest racial segregation. This letter is combination of his efforts and passion.
DeleteIn this piece, MLK addressed segregation all over the country, focusing on Birmingham specifically. He went through the four steps in all nonviolent campaigns in order to achieve justice—collecting the facts in order to determine that injustice exists, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action. He explained the differences of just vs. unjust laws and went through examples of unjust situations African Americans face solely due to their skin color. It isn’t all about following the law exactly. It is more about doing what is morally right (ex. Hitler was “legal” but stopping it was technically “illegal”). King focuses on now rather than later or waiting throughout the entire text in overcoming the struggles African Americans are put through.
ReplyDeleteMLK injects pathos into his speech in order to appeal to the audience on a personal level and respond emotionally to his prominent concerns. At the end of reading his speech, I felt deeply disturbed. I never knew how brutal Whites were to the black community in Birmingham. “There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation.” Wow; that is an inexcusable issue that needs to stop now. Nobody should be bombing anybody, especially without reason (or if their “reason” is because their black). That’s bullshit. MLK was very effective in regards to getting the audience riled up and upset about this topic because now I want to put an end to this absurdity.
MLK’s rhetorical situation he was responding to was the injustice of the actions towards the African Americans, and the people who sit back and don’t help. I, the reader, am the audience, as well as all the other people who have read or will read this speech. The exigence is the injustice and needing direct aid now. The constraints is putting this issue on the backburner, accepting it, and the segregation in and of itself. This was a very helpful piece to read because it made me realize that pathos is a very successful way to write and make the audience feel strongly about the topic of your paper. I will definitely refer back to this speech in future writings.
I agree with you! I resonate with this letter, too. During reading this letter, I was surprised and indignant. I could not imagine the circumstance that the way how white people treated to black people could even possible exist. And I was affected by this letter a lot. Before I read this letter, I was unaware of how severity of the effect of racial discrimination. Now, I strongly agree to protest racial segregation.
DeleteMarin Luther King Jr. wrote this letter while he was imprisoned in a Birmingham city jail fro protesting. In this letter he was talking to the white clergymen, but he knew this letter would reach a national audience. He wrote the letter to answer and show critics why he timed his protests, sit-ins, marches the way he did. As one of the leaders in the protests in Birmingham he had to decide when would be an effective time. The protests were getting postponed due to mayor elections and other events happening in Birmingham. “We speedily decided to postpone action until after election day.” (Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” page 2). Also in the letter he discussed how he was not admiring some of the Churches actions and what his definitions of just and unjust laws.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this today, and again, I feel that Martin Luther King Jr. was a wonderful visionary and advocated change in society for desegregation and equal rights for blacks. I say this because he avoided violence in his protests, he was willing to “take a blow and not fight back”, and he argued unjust laws and just laws. He was willing to break unjust laws because to him are laws that do not apply to a majority, but focus on oppressing a minority. From what I know of MLK he hardly did things out of impulse or off the whim, every protest, speech, letter that he did was a well thought out and well thought out.
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a great example of rhetoric writing. There was a situation in America with segregation and injustice towards blacks and Martin Luther King Jr. acted on these situations on multiple accounts and the letter is one of them. The direct audience for the letter was the clergymen and the letter was able to reach a much larger audience because of how powerful MLK was becoming. He was able to change the audience’s opinion of the subject and created massive discourse among the United States. The problem at the time was segregation and inequality for blacks at the time. Its not just blacks had to use separate public facilities, but how whites in authoritative power were abusing blacks. The constaints or limitations was a vast majority of people, mainly whites, in America that didn’t see a problem with segregation or the harsh treatments toward blacks. They didn’t want anything to change which made it hard for Martin Luther King Jr. and other advocates to change the status quo at the time.
I agree with you that King was a wonderful visionary and he was all for changing and eliminating segregation. I enjoyed his letter because, like his protests, it included no violence or anger, but he still clearly got his point across. I also agree that it was okay for King to break these unjust laws because they were simply put in effect to oppress a minority. What makes me more inclined to believe in and follow King's ideas is that he hardly acted off of impulse or anger. Like you had stated, every speech and protest King led was well thought out and executed peacefully which makes his arguments more valid and convincing.
DeleteDr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a piece critical of the treatment of his non-violent movement not only in Birmingham but in context to the entire South of the United States. He is critical of his fellow clergy who have condoned his actions as, "unwise and untimely," and extreme. As opposed to taking offense to these remarks he goes on to proclaim himself an extremist for love, intellectual growth, and equality; and how such qualities stem from the breaking of unjust laws. "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that 'an unjust law is no law at all.'"
ReplyDeleteDr. King's writes this letter so well, it s as if though he is speaking to me, which indeed was the intent of this letter. He succeeds in outlining the absurdities of the laws of the time, “An unjust law is a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal.” He compels the reader to take a stand, a position of peace and disobey the law, no matter what the consequence.
Bitzer would most definitely recognize this letter and everything Dr. King did as fantastic examples of rhetoric, given it is in response to the rhetorical situation, segregation in the United States. This piece was created due to the constraints on Dr. King was facing not only his being in jail but it is also the outcry of an African American man, something that usually went unheard into the ears of the law-abiding citizen who sought not to break the status quo because the norm is so very comfortable. This piece is truly the thoughts of an oppressed man, his emotion, his feeling, his perception; all come to fruition through his writing and he is simply doing nothing more than writing his thoughts about a flawed system.
Hey Marcelo,
DeleteI agree with you on the point where he forces the reader to make a stand. There is nothing in this piece of writing that is not controversial, especially at the time. The way that King writes it is also incredibly convincing because he uses such vivid imagery to describe the tribulations the African American people were going through. I also agree with your point on the constraints. King would probably say that the jail did nothing but intensify his feelings about the system. In addition it probably did not change his actual opinions a whole lot.
Marcelo,
DeleteI also agree that his letter urges the reader to take a stand and I would like to take that perception one step further. I think the letter is also a statement to promote human rights in general. His statements like "an unjust law is no law at all" and "justice too long delayed is justice denied" are forever immortalized as words to advise the present and the future. These are the thoughts of an oppressed man, but also a driven man. He inspired all Americans then and is still inspiring all Americans now.
In Martin Luther King, Jr's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", King is responding from jail to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen about how the protest MLK lead was "unwise and untimely". In his letter, King describes how he came to be in Birmingham, and the overall situation about segregation that is happening in the US. He explains why he did not chose to wait, as in his letter, he says that "For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!' It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing
ReplyDeletefamiliarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.'"He also describes the volume of abuse colored people at the time had to deal with, from "unsolved bombings" to police dogs "sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes". He ends with a statement of hope that segregation will end sooner than later.
What stayed with me the most from this piece was the amount of emotion put into it. I could feel King's agony for his fellow brothers and sisters as he described the abuse they took, and I was distraught for him as he talked about having to explain to his six-year-old daughter why she could not go to an amusement park. King very much pulled at the heartstrings of his audience. MLK's words were meant to give sympathy to the colored cause and also induce outrage at the way they are treated. However, he does not just have emotion in his piece. He also argues a logical argument for why black people in America should have equal rights. It was indeed, as Paul points out, a very well thought out letter.
MLK's letter is definitely in response to a rhetorical situation. He has an audience, the clergymen and the rest of the US, that can certain think about and do something about the situation. The exigence for this letter was the issue of inequality between black and white people in the United States. The constraints for the situation was, for one, MLK's refusal to use violence as a way to get his ideas across, as that limited the ways he could get people to support his idea, and two, the thousands of white people across the country that opposed King's stance on the subject. He saw an opportunity to try and persuade more people to his cause through this letter, and that opportunity was brought about because of the issues of segregation in the US.
I agree with you when to talk about the emotion you felt from the piece. I think that the emotion really connects the reader to the issues he is discussing and justifying. Also the part about his daughter... was heartwrenching. It's these real life examples that further propel his entire movement. Who can think of a time in our lives where one of us wasn't able to go to an amusement park because of the color of our skin? I wouldn't think very many. This piece is dramatic and MLK uses examples like this that are relatable to show what racism has done to his family and his people. Great analysis!
DeleteThis is the letter written by Martin Luther King Jr, one of the most inspirational writers and public speakers of all time. He wrote the letter to his fellows to explain his standpoint, and to show his stand behind his nonviolence protest when he was imprisoned. He defined his term of “legal and illegal,” which profoundly affect the nation and the religion. Is it right to kill the Jewish? Even with morally wrong behavior such as ignore civil right? Just and unjust can be overturn by a people who is in charge.
ReplyDeleteThere are several reasons for MLK wrote this letter. In my opinion, MLK didn’t want his movement, non-violence protest, in the past to be wasted. He reminds his people that if we use a violence to solve the problem there will not be difference in action between American and African American. However, in order to process his movement, the power of people is required. Therefore, part of this letter was to persuade a new audience. Next, I think MLK protected the religion, ideally the church is supposes to be pure. According to MLK’s letter: “a just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” would be the best term to describe his thought on a “law.” Therefore, a man has the power to obey the law as long as he is in power.
From what I have read, this piece is very inspirational, MLK did a great job passing his voice and his soul through the paper.
Topic (exigence) : King’s topic was on the “the right of human,” that reflectes his take on just and unjust. The letter addressed the issue that need to be solved.
Audience and Constraints: My take on the audience, assuming that I live during that time period, was that MLK did a great job convincing me to join his nonviolent protest. Part of it was that I’m a minority as well. The author clearly explained why this is the time to make a move. We can no longer wait.
Martin Luther King Junior wrote this “Letter from Birmingham Jail” when he was imprisoned because of leading a protestation and “parade” against segregation in Alabama. He wrote this letter in response to his fellow Clergymen who decried his activities as “unwise and untimely”. Throughout his letter, he explains reasons of his non-violent fight for human’s rights in the country. He emphasizes on the nonsense of legal actions according to unjust laws. King also denounces the violence of police in his environment. To enclose his letter, King believes in power and unity of Church to fight against unfairness.
DeleteIn the same manner as Sam, I felt the power of King’s writing. Reading this letter was captivating thanks to emotion of the discourse, his arguments are very strong and he is probably angry but his writing is always kind and gracious. Moreover, I realized that, like Paul said, King was a visionary about desegregation and he had a wonderful overview of the society. This letter show the determination of MLK; like Richard said, he is willing to see the other side’s view but he knows his beliefs are stronger and he will achieves his ultimate aims.
MLK’s letter seems to be a perfect example of a rhetorical situation according to Bitzer definition. The exigence for the situation was that segregation of black citizens in US, actions of MLK against segregation and the clergymen letter decrying these actions. Clergymen are the first audience concerned but thanks to MLK’s popularity all US citizens were audience and able to be mediator of change. The constraint for the situation was the opposition of people who enjoyed unjust laws and segregation. MLK’s principles to lead his non-violent actions were also a constraint to the situation. I learned from this reading the power of rhetorical questions and I would use them in the future.
MLK does really have strong believe in his movement. He has ego in what should be right for all African American Citizens. Ideally, he should have the support behind him, but in the reality, he did not have the support that he supposed to get. With this piece of writing, like Pierre said, I gained more understanding by reading MLK’s letter. MLK showed a great example of fitting his message to three core component of rhetorical situation.
DeleteHey Pete,
DeleteYou make a really good point on how MLK did not want his efforts to be wasted. It is one thing to see the protest in the newspaper and then just move on to the next article. Reading and hearing his words are what produce the impact on the audience. The protest makes it known, while the rhetoric tells people why what he is doing is worth it. His reasoning is strong and his personality is persistent and that is ultimately why we celebrate King still today. Well written Pete, great job.
I would have to disagree that Martin Luther King did this for his movement not to be wasted. I think he wrote this letter to help his fellow man and to set an example for the future. With that said,I agree that a man does have the to choose to obey law as long as he is in power himself. Following a law is at the discretion of the person.
Delete@Sam, Thank you for the response. Could you ever imagine if King failed to deriver his protest? It would effect the American society profoundly especially for the African American. Bringing his "American dream" to the truth, it opens a lot more opportunity for our nation to moving forward. Not only our nation developed in the right path, but this is the example for many countries who is fighting for anti-discrimination. MLK will be a big part of our world society moving forward to a new era.
Delete@Josh, Thank you for the response. You brought up a good point. Honestly, I think he meant to do both. Here is my reasons why “Martin Luther King did this for his movement not to be wasted.” He simply did not want to let’s his believers and the rest of African Americans to the bloody path. As you can see from his letters, he is very kind and gentle. MLK did mention at some point on his letter that “niggers” has been silence and anti-violent for a whole time. Think about his, what if some “hot-blooded” African Americans use the violence to solve the problem while he was in jail? I think, the gaps between African Americans and Americans will be bigger than ever and will causing the problem to the rest of people. In that case, the government will be targeting on him and his believers. He put his heart and his care for all of the American citizens.
MLK wrote this letter to stand protesting segregation in the Birmingham Jail. This letter explains reasons of anti-discriminate movement he advocated. All kinds of unfair treatment of black people, and black people’s severe living circumstance are the motivation of his movement. Additionally, he explains why he was so imperative to take action and create tension and the reasonableness of the tension. He addresses that ‘ ‘wait’ has almost always meant ‘never’ ’ because he believes that time itself is neutral, waiting will not bring any change. Therefore, he needs to create tension to push the progress of the situation to get the opportunity to negotiate. Furthermore, he expressed that his has been disappointed with the white moderate because they like negative peace. It was even more bewildering than outright rejection. He also exposes many facts, such as the difficult situation of black people and how policemen treated to blacks. People did not see those facts, while people need to know those facts because those are important matters to make people have comprehensive angle of view to regard whole event. Finally, he advocates people to praise black people who have the courage to sit and demonstrators, and he is looking forward black people can get their human right eventually.
ReplyDeleteI think MLK's letter is very charismatic so that people unfeignedly resonate with his ideas. Even as a spectator, I mean I am not in that era and at that situation, I am impressed. First, he lists many unimaginative facts to illustrate the tragic situation of blacks. Such as black parents had to fabricate lies to children to maintain the children’s feeling, and arbitrary deprive lives of black people. He points out those facts so that people have to face and have to think about those seamy and blind side. In addition, he overthrows the inertia of thinking of most people, and provides persuadable thoughts. For example, when he said that time is neutral, time cannot change anything, waiting means never, I strongly agree with this idea. However, before I read this letter, I thought that time can change the situation that is just like most people do. Therefore, I think his letter is very persuadable, because he has many strong supporting arguments.
This reading respond to rhetorical situation we have been discussing. MLK's rhetorical situation he was responding to is that many people do not understand or do not support him to take action that against racial discrimination issues. As the movement leader, he must stand out and explain the entire event. He wants people to understand his approach, even support his movement. His intention is to make clergymen and American people, especially whites, able to change the views and attitudes of blacks. However, there are limitations so that he cannot directly change the situation. Such as long-term polices and people's thinking shackles. Meanwhile, he also insisted on non-violent movement to win the victory.
Through this article, I learned that we should not only write on a fitting time, which means rhetorical situation, but also provide strong arguments to persuade your audience. Meanwhile, we should figure out the way to achieve this goal even at the limited situation.
It's understandable why MLK did not get the support that he supposed to get. Part of it was due to the power was under the "chair man." His voice was directly a wake up call for the African American. By writing this piece, he did a great job of putting a strong argument against the "government." Like you said earlier, rhetorical situation purpose is not only about what to write, but it is more about how to achieve the goal.
ReplyDeleteMarin Luther King Junior wrote this letter while he was in jail in Birmingham Alabama. He had been arrested for peacefully protesting segregation. He wrote this letter in response the clergymen who had described his actions as “unwise and untimely”. King tries to help these “men of genuine good” understand his reasoning for his actions. King fights to eliminate segregation stating that, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading King’s letter. I believe that his entire letter was well thought out, organized and an easy read. He got his points across very clearly and proved many good and believable points. He kept in mind that this response was not meant to create more conflict, but rather resolve some misunderstandings behind his actions. I agree with Richard when he says King never lets his anger or frustrations sway his from his path of eliminating segregation.
This reading is very much a rhetorical situation. King was writing in response to the segregation and injustice towards African Americans. The audience is the reader of the letter. Whether it is the clergymen who originally read King’s response, or me, the current audience today. The exigence is the unfair and unjust treatment towards African Americans. The constraints in this situation include many things. One being King’s refusal to use anger or violence in his teachings and protests. The second constraint is all of the people in the country, mostly white people, who refused to believe and follow King’s idea of equality. I think King did a perfect job in convincing his audience to believe in his ideas. King’s use of a rhetorical situation help his letter become much more convincing and engaging.
“Letters from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. is a response to a letter that was published in the newspaper by the Clergyman previous to Kings incarceration. The letter stated that Kings protests were “unwise and untimely” which evoked a response by MLK to not only the Clergyman but also all the others who have criticized his work. King thoroughly details his planning of the demonstration with the Alabama Christian Movement and his fellow staff in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The demonstration was rescheduled a number of times around the election when King states “we decided again to postpone the action until the day after the run off so that the demonstrations could not be used to cloud the issues.” Further King continues to outline his reasoning for these demonstrations and why he thought they were necessary along with other evidence supporting his claim that the demonstrations were neither unwise nor untimely.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find MLK’s letter to be both powerful and necessary. This letter to the Clergyman is not only to respond to his untrue accusations of King, but to also defend himself to the world. Mr. King was not a violent man and strived to change the world through peaceful and positive demonstrations, but I think that a letter such as this one was needed at the time. It functions as a statement to the world that he only wants peace and equality, and that he wasn’t out to interfere with the election. Kings power and passion conveyed through his words are admirable and his concision throughout his piece is astounding.
This reading by MLK provides a clear example of all the terms we have been working on in class. The rhetorical situation is one we are all familiar with, and that is the segregation of African Americans and unjust laws that kept them segregated. MLK was writing this letter not only for the Clergyman and some critical priests’ but it was a statement defending African Americans right to be treated as equals. The exigence is the mistreatment of African Americans and the white men continuously neglecting their rights as humans. MLK, in all of his writing, does a great job at proving his point by providing facts and evidence, without belittling his criticizers. This piece has great strength and power difficult to argue with and I think that this is a great example for our class because of the precision, clarity, facts and evidence and collected yet strong tone, providing an example of effective rhetoric.
The letter to the clergymen from Martin Luther King was intended to describe what he and his fellow protestors were doing in Birmingham and persuade the Clergymen to renovate their city’s de facto racism. Martin Luther King tries to persuade them that his disobedience of the law was just because “an unjust law is no law at all,” therefore, he was not breaking any law that is just. Martin Luther King explained that he and his fellow protestors fight because the passed laws against segregation have thus far been ignored. Therefore, because “justice too long delayed is justice denied,” Martin Luther King and his fellow protestors were right in their protest. The letter is also extremely compelling, not only because topic is compelling, but the rhetorical situation is also compelling. For the course of the entire letter, it is known to the reader, and consequently the clergymen, that Martin Luther King is in jail. Jailed only for protesting without a permit, he was jailed for such a long time that this lengthy letter was possible.
ReplyDeleteThe overall effect of the reading was incredibly persuasive and compelling. The letter was persuasive because it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Birmingham’s actions thus far and now have been wrong and immoral. The climax of Birmingham’s immorality was jailing Martin Luther King, which I hope the city now finds deplorable and now regrets. The letter was compelling because the rhetorical discourse and the context within which it was written was uncommon and unique. Martin Luther King, the leader of the PEACEFUL protest movement, was jailed on a technicality. (Lack of a permit) I find it absolutely deplorable that someone of his stature was treated in such a harsh manner. I do understand that the man we view as a saint was viewed by some as a sinner, but I believe those who condemn a sinner should question why he/she is sinning. If they reflected that they themselves were the cause of the sin and disobedience, perhaps they would have acted differently. The letter, for me, is not only a persuasive letter to clergymen, but an inspirational speech akin to his speech at the March on Washington.
The reading responds to our discussion of rhetorical situation. The rhetorical situation to which Martin Luther King was responding was the Civil Rights Movement and the exigence was his imprisonment in Birmingham Jail. This creates the context that is immediately moving because such a great man was imprisoned with the long term goal of fighting in the Civil Rights Movement. I will apply this writing to my own understanding of what constitutes a persuasive piece. The letter is persuasive and moving itself, but it holds credence and is especially intense because of the intense context. In my next piece of writing, I will try to incorporate a sense of immediacy with a situation that is extremely compelling.
The rhetorical situation MLK was responding to in his Birmingham jail letter consists of an audience, exigence and constraints. The audience is the reader of the letter- whether it is the clergymen who originally read King’s response, or me, the current audience today. The exigence is the unfair and unjust treatment towards African Americans. The constraints in this situation include many things. One being King’s refusal to use anger or violence in his teachings and protests. The second constraint is all of the people in the country, mostly white people, who refused to believe and follow King’s idea of equality.
ReplyDeleteThe intended impact on the audience is to prove his purpose of fighting for equality. He wants the clergymen, and other white people, to understand his reasoning for his protests and speeches. The intended impact of his letter is to also gain more followers. King wanted as many people as possible, black or white, to follow his ideas and want an equal country for all races.
The genre enhanced the purpose of his letter by directly addressing a group of people. The letter was definitely impactful and allowed more people to understand MLK’s purpose and his beliefs.
The situation affected the rhetoric in these two pieces by allowing more followers to openly believe in MLK’s teachings. His use of non-violent, yet assertive protests helped more and more followers gain empowerment. His letter definitely gained a lot of publicity and allowed more people to learn about what and why King was trying to do through his work.