Once upon a jail cell...

Within this letter, MLK jr was addressing the other church leaders who have criticized his actions. He only wished to explain his motives and why he felt so strongly that what he was doing really was the right path to success. He addressed the people to whom he is referring, he addressed the problems at hand, and he respectively addressed the church.The piece of writing had a lot of voice in it. Even if were were not familiar with this man and his successes, he would know that he had a passion for what he was working for. The tone of this letter was not angry nor sad, but strong and urgent. 


I feel this letter was very effective. Never took much time in mentioning why what other people are doing wrong, but primarily stuck to why he felt what he was supporting was right. Spending too much time listing faults of opposing views becomes distracting, and because he avoided this kept me as the reader focused in on his purpose. Today, the length of his letter would probably have inhibited his message because our ability to stay focused has shortened, but for his purpose I don't believe the length hurt one bit. Especially because of the conclusion he included. 


For his use of logical fallacies, I believe he used name calling. It's more in a positive manner because he references a handful of past leaders and quoted them about taking a stand. He also may be using a bit of Hasty Generalization with his assessment of how people feel towards him or his actions, how the colored population saw themselves, or about the lack of the church's support. Some of his generalizations may have been based from fact or experience, but it sounds like he could have over/underestimated certain situations. He balances the ethos, pathos, and logos parts of his arguments very well. You don't ever feel overly exerted onto his personal moral framework but you can understand his emotion. Also, he backed his information with facts. 


This provides me with a good example for my persuasive essay. this piece demonstrates how a paper can be written and reflect morals, emotions, and logic all at once.