Kevin McAdam
AP English
10/12/09
King Essay- Due Wednesday October 14th, is a 3 page paper describing what makes King's argument so persuasive. Include the appeals we have discussed, in their English form (logic, not logos; emotion, not pathos, character, not ethos). Also, include his use of syntax and diction, and describe how it enhances his argument.
King’s Persuasion
Dr. King’s use of appeals in his letter from Birmingham Jail was of utmost importance to create such a profound impact during a time of hatred and prejudice. In his letter, King’s wealth of knowledge and his vibrant emotion allow him to stand up against, but not attack, the clergymen who will not take part in his struggle. King alters his readers’ opinions of himself and the cause he fought so strongly for by presenting his individual character while diverting away from the stereotypical beliefs black men, displaying his emotional state through his writing by his aggressive word choice, and the way the logical elements of his writing appeal to his audience while collaborating with his diction and emotion.

The first thing that Dr. King needed to do when writing this letter was to establish himself as a credible scholar. In order to do this, he simply could not list certain traits and accomplishments of his because he needed to be humble in the process. Instead, he logically displayed instances showing his true characteristics so that his readers could know what kind of person he is deep down. By presenting his character as credible to start, King had a means of support for later reference when attempting to persuade the clergymen in his favor. The extreme prejudice towards blacks at the time King wrote this letter handicapped his credibility from the start, and his battle to win his readers’ trust was more difficult for him than for a white man given the burden forced upon him by society. Another way that King displayed his character throughout his letter is how he wrote it. His formal and creative writing style exhibited his own intelligence, and presented the importance of his cause. King’s patient and nonviolent attitude gave him the ability to let his emotions flow in his letter while still remaining respectful to those he wrote to.
King’s appeal to his readers would have been nonexistent had there not been such emotion expressed through his writing. Writing with strong emotion was a very easy task for Dr. King to accomplish when writing about a cause that he was so invested in. There was no way King could not let his emotions come out in his letter while witnessing injustices occur day after day. King is able to display these injustices by talking about small issues in on a large scale: “We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights… and we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter” (King 742). Also, it is obvious that King would not be afraid to express his emotions freely seeing that he was in prison for that such reason. It was easy for King to express the emotions he had bottled up inside him for so long. The challenge for him was to keep from sounding too emotional in his writing.

Another appealing element to King’s argument is the word choice he uses throughout his letter to coincide with emotion in the text. King’s ability to harness his emotion and use it to create a bold, aggressive, and insightful tone adds the life to the letter that makes the reader feel as though the injustices were happening to them. There is nothing conservative about King’s letter because he cannot afford to go easy on the clergymen. King took an aggressive stance in his writing because he wanted an aggressive response from the clergymen that benefitted his cause. If he did not put a sense of urgency into the minds of the clergymen, he would not receive the desired response. King’s emotional appeals would have meant nothing if had not been able to connect the reasons for his emotional state to a logical explanation for his cause.
All of King’s emotion and efforts would have been wasted in writing this letter had he not added logical examples and reasons as to why the clergymen should have backed his cause. Throughout the entire argument, all of King’s emotional rants have been completely supported by logical examples to keep himself from sounding boring. This strategy also constantly reminds the reader of the problems at hand and why he is so invested in the situation. King’s logic in his letter truly pulls together the whole text to persuade the readers in his favor. King’s logic and emotion both perfectly support one another because of King’s intellect and character. The reasoning King had when writing this letter was very smart and comprehensive of his environment, but it would have sounded boring if he was just some unbiased third party. However, King put himself into the center of the struggle and experienced the problems taking place. His own desire for freedom and equality fueled the emotion that he put into his letter. Every assertion King made that seemed wild and outlandish was sustained by facts of his own personal observations. King’s perfect combination of logic and emotion was displayed in the vivid cases of injustice he had experienced: “when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity” (742). King’s combination of logic and emotion play off one another so well, creating an argument that cannot be ignored.

There is no one element of King’s letter that stands out to be the solitary reason why it is so appealing. The perfect association between King’s presentation of character, his emotion towards the subject, and the logical elements supporting his argument all share an equal part in the letter’s appeal to the clergymen. Dr. King’s engaging letter wonderfully incorporates the supreme appeals found in any great speech: character, emotion, and logic.