MLK Letter Response

Daniel Arcega

Mrs. Emerick

IB English HL II

MLK Letter Response

Guiding Question: To what effect does MLK use allusions to reinforce his goal in writing this letter?

1. King utilizes logos, pathos, and ethos to show flaws in his receiver's logic and to clarify their hypocrisy.

2. In section 1, MLK references the bible and Socrates to support his reasons for the protesting in Birmingham and his involvement in it.

1. When the clergymen question MLK’s right to interfere in the politics in Birmingham, MLK responds by using a biblical allusion to reveal the holes in their logic

2. “But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the  eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries  of their hometowns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of  Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of  freedom beyond my own home town” (King 1).

1. The bible stories MLK mentions both feature a person or people entering the lands of others in order to spread the gospel.

2. MLK is saying that if these people had the right to enter foerign lands to spread their beliefs, then so does he.

3. If they contradict this statement, they are contradicting the logic of their  own beliefs.

3. “Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a  tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the  unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent  gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of  prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood”(King 2).

1. To complement his use of religion, MLK also references a famous secular philosopher to make use of ethos.

2. Socrates, being seen as an important and well-knowing figure in human philosophy, would be respected when it comes to the discussion of human motivation and action.

3. Arguing against MLK on this point would be like arguing against Socrates himself.

3. MLK uses other examples of civil disobedience that invoke logos and pathos to justify the actions of the protestors.

1. The clergymen argue that the actions of the protestors are wrong because they go against many laws, to which MLK responds that it is one's duty to oppose unjust laws. 

2.  “In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive  act of civil disobedience”(King 4).

1. Shows that there have been moments before in history where laws have been broken for the foreseeable greater good and that this is not any different (logos). 

2. Connects to the receivers’ sense of patriotism, as it portrays the acts of the protesters similar to those who participated in the Boston Tea Party (pathos).

3. “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything  the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in  Hitler's Germany”(King 4).

1. Shows the logical fallacies in connecting legality to morality (logos).

2. Many atrocities across history were seen as legal as those who committed them often had the power to declare them so.

3. Attempts to invoke the empathy of the receivers, relating the suffering the Jews experienced by the Holocaust to the struggles of black people in America (pathos).

4. When called extremists, MLK provides examples of other historical figures who were seen as extremists.

5. Was not Jesus an  extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and  pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you… And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to  be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . ."(King 6).

1. Both are respected figures in Biblical and American History (ethos).

2. Refuting them would go against their religion and country.

4. In section 3, MLK uses pathos imagery to attempt to convince the receivers of their errors.

1. “Yes, I  see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through  social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists” (King 7).

1. Imagery of Jesus Christ wounded (Pathos)

2. Connects it with the actions of the church regarding civil rights.

2. “I doubt that you would so quickly  commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here  in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if  you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as  they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together”(King 7).

1. Based on MLK’s assumption that the clergymen did mean well, and simply did not know about the abuse from police.

2. Attempts to make them feel empathetic towards the unjust suffering of the protestors (pathos).     

5. MLK uses references to important figures and imagery to create logos, pathos, and ethos in his argument against the claims of the clergymen.

1. Direct examples from the bible that support the actions of the protestors render the receivers unable to logically refute his arguments.

2. MLK uses imagery to invoke the despair and suffering of the protestors, attempting to appeal to their emotions.

3. Many references to famous and respected historical figures to reinforce his own argument.