"It is clear, then, that rhetorical study, in its strict sense, is concerned with the modes of persuasion. Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated." According to Aristotle's "Rhetoric", rhetoric modes of persuasion are based on three appeals: logical, ethical, and emotional. These appeals will be used to analyze two very controversial letters from the civil rights movement era. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, a local newspaper published "The Letter from the Eight White Clergymen" in criticism of the direct-action, non-violent demonstrations by Martin Luther King and the African-American community. Also, the clergymen charged Dr. King as being an "outsider" and stated that the demonstrations in Birmingham were "unwise and untimely". To defend himself and the demonstrations, Dr. Martin Luther king wrote a response to the clergymen in which he justifies the need for his presence in the civil rights movement in Birmingham and explains the necessity of the demonstrations. When compared, Dr. King's arguments are more convincing and effective than those of the clergymen b

ecause he displays a greater ability to utilize the logical, ethical, and emotional appeals throughout his letter.

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Dr. King paints a very emotional appeal in his arguments in order to establish the reader's sympathy. Unlike Martin Luther King, the clergymen have a very direct and non-emotional style of writing: "We strongly urge our own Negro community to withdraw support from these demonstrations, and to unite locally in working peacefully... in the courts and in the negotiations among local leaders" (271). The clergymen present the reader with a very monotone argument which does not compel the reader to feel any emotion. Their argument is a very subtle way of telling the Negro community to wait for justice. Dr. King, on the other hand, is an emotional writer. He responds in the following way: "Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait'... But when you have seen vicious mobs lunch your mothers and fathers at will... when you see the vast majority of you twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty... when you are humiliated day in and day out... when your first name becomes 'nigger'... then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait" (276). Dr. King is a master in portraying a vivid emotional appeal. He uses metaphors to emphasize his points and is not afraid to state the sad truth no matter how horrible it is. This really drives the reader to compassion for and understanding of the Negro community in a white-dominated society.

Dr. King utilizes convincing ethical arguments in his letter in order to demonstrate that he is a credible source of information as well as a good person while proving that the clergymen falsify information and discredit their own arguments: "We commend the... law e

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Approximate Word count = 1252
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)