Hi guys ! i'm new on here. but i have to write a response paper for "LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL" by MLK of course and we had to use one of the Rhetorical Strategies, and the one i chose wassss, LOGOS. i'm going to paste my essay and also put what my teacher told me to fix, right now, im pretty STUCK, so i need lots of help. PLEASEEE ! :)
Throughout "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr. uses the logos rhetorical strategy to persuade his audience. Using reason, facts, evidence and logic for the cause of support. <<[ here my teacher told me this is a sentence fragment]
For example, when starting off his letter in response to the clergymen << [ here he said i need to give some context here] , king makes sure that in all ways he is being respectful, and makes it clear that he will not continue on with the negativity. That he is only here to explain his side and his goals for his people. He starts off to say, "I came across your recent statement calling my present activities unwise and untimely. Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticism that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of day, I would have no time for constructive work ... I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms."
In this open response to the clergymen, King makes it clear that he refuses to respond to the negative things spoken about him, and the things he has done and wants to continue to do. If he spent his time responding to the criticism he received, where would all the time for his productive and positive work go? He wants to try his best to respond to the clergymen, but he will not step out of line and out of person to respond to such negativity.
Later, King goes on to explain his reasons for being here, and how he has gotten to where he is. He believes that Birmingham needs his help, because the Birmingham system is an unfair system. "So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here." He also uses parallelism in this statement by repetition of a sentence structure.
He goes on to explain the bad state that Birmingham is in, and the conditions they are facing. "Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negros have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case."
Lastly King goes on to explain his outlook on just and unjust laws. "One may well ask: "how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the last to advocate disobeying just laws."
my teachers response : great start, but there are two important things that you need to do to improve this essay
1. further develop the intro to explain to your readers the context and main arguments in kings letter
2. include analysis to show how your examples are examples of logos.
- please help me improve this essay, ANYONE !! thanks :)
You need an Introductory senence, something like: Rhetorical strategies are an important method for analysing text.
Then define Rhetorical strategies and let the reader know which one you have chosen and why.
"Throughout "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr. uses the logos rhetorical strategy to persuade his audience. Using reason, facts, evidence and logic for the cause of support. <<[ here my teacher told me this is a sentence fragment]"
This paper will provide a critical discussion of the Logos approach used by Martin Luther King Jr. in his 19... "Letter from Birmingham Jail". [Now give some background to the letter; who was martin, why in jail, his aim in writing the letter].
Start by idientifying his arguments:
Give the background to the clergyman's letter. Show your evidence for King being respectful etc, use quotes. How does he "make it clear"...? Finally, for this paragraph how does his being respectful and making things clear show you that he is using Logos? Remember to cite your sources when talking about what is Logos.
Repeat for next argument.
Write a conclusion: This paper demonstrated ....
Hope this helps, let me know how it goes.
Throughout "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr. uses the logos rhetorical strategy to persuade his audience. Using reason, facts, evidence and logic for the cause of support. <<[ here my teacher told me this is a sentence fragment]
Yes, the second sentence is a fragment. You should just change to:
Throughout "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King Jr. uses the logos rhetorical strategy to persuade his audience
by using reason, facts, evidence and logic for the cause of support.
This is a good thesis. Now you can use the rest of the essay to give examples to prove this statement.
Do you have a clear understanding of what logos means? It is the logic, the strong argument made by the writer/rhetorician. Show examples of King's use of logos, and explain them as such. Good luck!!!
