Letter from Birmingham Jail

King uses all three types of appeals in his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’ But he definitely uses one more often than others. Due to the fact his audience is other ministers, but of the different race, he uses pathos more often.

Logos is only used a few times. First, he attempts to use the logic approach to prove that the actions of the African-Americans are a last resort by bringing up the list of things to use to try to change laws and social norms. A couple of paragraphs later, he uses logic to back up the morality of the sit-ins and marches—all the peaceful protests. He says that the reason the African-Americans did the protests when they did was related to making the most economical crisis in order to call attention to their plight and point of view.

He uses ethos in the second paragraph, where he uses his tie as the president of a Christian leadership gathering. This would have elevated his status—his right to be trusted—in the eyes of his audience. Latter in the letter, he explains that he understands that the African-Americans have been breaking the laws. He also advocates not doing so—seeming to contradict what one would expect from a man in jail.

The majority of King’s letter, however, appeals mainly with pathos. His continual references to Christ and the prophets are intended to build religious connections between him and his audience, as well as stir up feelings of devotion from them. Even when he discusses breaking the law, he finds a Biblical example to back him up: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refusing to bow to an idol. By comparing the African-American activists to martyred prophets, he created a sense of pity and ethnicity for his side of the argument.

He also uses pathos by drawing on fairly recent events in Europe to prove that just because something wasn’t legal didn’t mean it wasn’t right. And just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is morally correct. He brings up Hitler, and the fact that everything he did was legal.