Letter from Birmingham Jail Analysis.
"Letter from Birmingham" by Martin Luther King Jr., he talks about the morals and laws of segregation. Ethos, and pathos are two of the types of writing that he used to make his points understandable to his audience. The pathos style, which entices the reader through their emotions. This is the style that grabs me as a reader and keeps my attention. Pathos will get you emotionally involved in what you are reading and makes you feel connected to the characters. The ethos style is used to charm the audiences sense of ethics. In order to persuade the reader to understanding the author's point of view, the author describes the rights and wrongs of different situations. Pathos and ethos are the more prominent style King used in the selection . .
According to Aristotle ethos is defined as the authors creditability, and should accomplish that the reader understands the authors good will, good value, and good judgment . King does this tactic very well in this selection, although some of the points were harder for him to prove than others. Such as proving he was a good man, of good will and judgment, but he is sitting in a jail cell. Normally we think about people that are in jail are "bad" people and we do not look up to them. King's comparisons of himself to different biblical figures is one way he did this. King also acknowledge the Birmingham police for doing their job, where as many times we all look for the blame in others instead of ourselves. This proves to the reader that he is a good honest man that is willing to take responsibility for his actions. In King's letter he does an wonderful job to support his actions and does not justify that what he did was the best possible thing, but that is was necessary. .
According to Aristotle pathos is defined as the persuasion of the reader through emotions. We can not change human nature, there is no need to even attempt it, what an author can do is use it to their advantage.