Genre: Persuasive Essay
Purpose: To gain support of the white “silent majority” that is neutral in their opinion of the civil rights movement and to establish the peaceful motives behind their civil disobedience.
Central Message: Martin Luther King is relying a message that the African-American population has long been denied basic human rights and dignity and that the time for action is now; though he believes this change can occur through non-violent measures.
World-View and Assumptions: King assumes that Americans believe in the principles of liberty and equality, but most of all human dignity. He speaks on a highly religious level with many references to Christian doctrine, indicating that he believes that most Americans have some connection to Christianity in the United States. He also addresses the point that he essentially believes that most Whites are not extremists as seen in the South, but can relate to the plight of the African-Americans and see their humanity.
Use of Tools and Evidences:
Martin Luther King is writing not only to White moderates, but also to clergymen like King himself was. For this audience, King tries to connect to his fellow believers by referencing a higher moral code, The Bible, in order to appeal for the Whites to follow the counsel of Jesus to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (however it goes). Essentially, King uses his ethos by use of his collegiate writing style along with his position as minister to appeal to his audience’s spiritual enlightenment through the pathos associated with Biblical texts. The spirit of the pathos from the quoting of scripture leads into the overall logos of the piece, which is essentially that we as humans believe in a sense of morals that should transcend any abusive law set forth by misguided individuals. Pathos is also seen in King’s attempts to display the lack of dignity caused by segregation as he describes how parents must explain to children why they cannot participate in the same benefits as White children, outlining the injustice and negative effects of segregation on the Black community.
Great analytic snapshot! There is only one problem... we weren't supposed to do an analytic snapshot. haha I'm pretty sure we were just supposed to discuss his use of pathos, ethos, and logos. But you did discuss them in your Use of Tools and Evidences section.
ReplyDeleteYou got everything that I did in terms of the pathos, ethos, and logos from the letter. I could not believe the boldness of his pathos in the paragraph you talked about where he described how negro parents would have to explain segregation to their children. Way to see his use of ethos and logos as well.