In Letter From Birmingham Jail, the exigence is the continued condemnation, segregation, and prejudice afflicted against African Americans since the emancipation of the slaves in 1863. All of these factors influence each other to shape rhetoric, which Bitzer describes as, “pragmatic it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself” (3), with Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail being a shining example. Lastly, the exigence of a rhetorical piece is the external issue, situation, or event in which the rhetoric is responding to. The audience of a rhetorical piece will shape the rhetoric the author uses in order to appeal, brazen, or educate whoever is exposed. and may encompass the audience, as seen while analysing Letter From Birmingham Jail. Constraints bring light to the obstacles this rhetoric may face, whether it be social, political, economical, etc. There are three main considerations to make while analysing a rhetorical situation: the constraints, the exigence, and the audience. Analysing a rhetorical situation clarifies why a text was created, the purpose in which it was written, and why the author made specific choices while writing it. In sum, all rhetoric has an external situation in which it is responding to. Lloyd Bitzer describes rhetorical situation as, “a complex of persons, events, objects, and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action to bring about the significant modification of the exigence” (6). Martin Luther leading peaceful Birmingham protest, AP News While this fight had been raging for nearly 10 years, the release in 1963 was shortly followed by the Civil Rights Act in 1964. In Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King responds to the subjectivity of law and the issue he paramounts by using precise and impactful rhetoric from inside of his jail cell. had, perhaps, the most encompassing and personal rhetorical situation to face in American history. However, nearly everyone can relate to the images Martin Luther king vividly painted in jail.As the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s unfolded, Martin Luther King Jr. Not everyone who read “Letter from Birmingham jail” relates to the inequality and discrimination. It raises an emotional response from the reader and a new sense of understanding. The struggle of racism becomes men smothering in cages in the dark depths of America. Imagery allows a person to relate what they already know to a situation. The excerpt adds to the overall urgency of “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Alongside people he loves and people he might never meet that share the same struggle. He’s saying that he’s trapped alongside his brothers. He condenses this hate and describes it as an “airtight cage” and as “suffocating.” This links the inequality to the panic of smothering while tightly packed in a cage. He sees the hate African Americans in the 1960’s have to go through. “when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society” Martin Luther is coming forward with what he’s been seeing for many years. Martin Luther follows up the “stinging darts” comparison with another ugly view of segregation. It doesn’t call out those who segregate but it physically represents what segregation means to him and many others. “I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say “wait.” He appeals to the sense of sight and touch by describing segregation a stinging darts. He explains why drastic measures are being taken and why the timing is imperative. In paragraph twelve, Martin Luther used imagery to powerfully convey his emotions and urgency. In his mind, the work he was doing alongside his thousands of supporters had the power to raise America from the dark to a soaring height. “we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood” Is peace birthed out of chaos? Can the only be understanding alongside confusion? Martin Luther uses imagery to visually address his actions and give reasons behind them. His goal was to create a nonviolent riot so large that no one could ignore what’d been brushed under the rug. To achieve equality, Martin Luther makes it very clear that it will not be handed over.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |