In Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he uses an authoritative voice in his analogies, allusions, and ethical appeals that make his argument more relatable and compelling. In comparison, his authorial counterpart lacks the same confidence in his stylistic devices and ethical appeals making his argument weak and less…
A Modest Proposal and the Letter from Birmingham Jail are both written by two men who were trying to make life better for their people. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jonathan Swift have well educated Christian Clergymen who fell victim to an oppression of their people. Being well educated they were both knew what they were talking when writing to the given audience. Among those similarities, there are also differences between the writings and the men themselves.…
Two different writers, Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau, argue that society is not at its finest and that every man has the responsibility to impact change and every many has the power to do so, only if man is an extremist for the greater good. King was a reverend but more importantly he was a dominant voice for thousands of persecuted people during the civil rights movement. From King expressing his knowledge and acting on them, he was obliged and jailed (he was obliged to jail?) within King's cell he composed a letter entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. (transition?) Thoreau was a philosopher who contained all the qualities of a transcendentalist. Much time before King’s letter, Thoreau fabricated a response to when…
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. argues the differences between just and unjust laws using the method of comparison.…
“The Letter From Birmingham Jail” Analysis Before, after and during the Civil Rights Movement, injustice accommodates thin moral fibers that are unequal to the righteousness and justice that Dr. King sought, however complacency poses as an obstacle in the path of justice in the form of equality prevailing. Injustice is a morally wrong and must be abolished by a nonviolent means so justice can prevail. Segregation is an act that is founded on injustice. In the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King Jr. utilizes several techniques to convey his message regarding segregation. Adages used in the letter are used to ordain significant points.…
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is a response to eight of his fellow clergymen. He wrote this letter while the government arrested him and other protesters who were demonstrating in Birmingham, and he dedicated his whole life to the civil rights of the Blacks. In this letter, he response to the clergymen that questions his methods of protest. Different from Thomas Jefferson’s pure logic argument, he still adds his passionate sense of the injustice African Americans has suffered to his cool logic argument. Also, he uses first person perspective in this letter, which makes it more personal. Anyway, these two writings own different properties, so it is obvious that they would have different writing techniques. However, Martin…
3 sections: Section 1 (paragraphs 1-14); Section 2 (para. 15-30); Section 3 (para. 31-47), so search for the best…
On April 3rd, 1963, the Birmingham campaign began and people were protesting against racism and injustice. The non-violent campaign was coordinated by King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. However, King was roughly arrested with other main leaders of the campaign on April 12th for disobeying the rules of “no parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing”. While jailed, King read a letter (“A call for unity”) written by eight white Alabama clergymen against King and his methods from the newspaper. In the letter, the clergymen stated that the campaign were "directed and led in part by outsiders," urging activists to use the courts if rights were being denied rather than to protest. The letter provoked King and “the Letter from Birmingham jail” was a written response to the white clergy men and to defend the strategy of non-violent protesting. Throughout the letter, King used many stylistic writing elements and effective emotional appealing to make people want to join his case.…
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s maxim, “Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense”, Emerson supports the notion of individuality and conveying one’s beliefs without the fear of controversy. This maxim relates to the play, “The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail”, in which the main character Henry doesn’t conform societal expectations and stays true to his beliefs. While instructing a class of students, Henry refuses to teach according to the school’s curriculum. He is criticized by the Deacon and is scolded for dismissing the administration’s rules. Despite this, Henry continues to argue against the use of the school’s textbooks and denounces the idea of religion. He recognizes the contributions that individual has on society and…
In two shining examples of rhetorical power “A letter to a Birmingham Jail” and “Malcom X’s debate at the Oxford Union” The two great leaders of the civil rights movement outline their platforms and justify their philosophies in regards to how the movement should go about achieving societal change. Although the civil rights movement was brought to national attention by the combined work of MLK and Malcom X, the rhetorical strategies employed by the two are quite different and hold varying degrees of effectiveness. These social justice warriors did not receive an equal amount of respect nor did their ideas have an equal amount of impact because…
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to church leaders and minorities. Even though MLK directed the letter to only the church leaders, I felt emotions and empowerment from reading it in the present. Imagine how much motivation and awareness the unfairly treated minorities got back then from reading this letter. His letter was basically about segregation and the negative effects it has in the world. He wanted to make aware of why segregation is not needed and how it affected many people outside of those who are not affected. MLK had no “actual” support from the view of white people because all his supporters were basically minorities who were wrongly treated. He didn’t really have leaders or impactful people who sided with…
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther king is a response letter written to the eight clergyman who had criticized King for the method of protest he uses. King was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama in April 1963 and wrote the letter in his small cell after reading a newspaper in which the clergyman had themselves published criticize king’s method of protesting since he was not from the state of Alabama. King replies to the clergymen and call them “men of genuine good will”, to show his peaceful manner. The clergy man feel that king is not and should not interfere with what is happening in the south. King however, answers them by arguing why African Americans in Birmingham will and should participate in the movement, famously quoting that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (233). He explains that he doesn’t need to be from…
“Civil Disobedience” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” both want to share their thoughts and what they want to see the United States to change. They express their thought in different ways but they both get their word out the same way. They both want to fight for what they believe is right and their hope is others will fight with them.…
Martin Luther King Jr. was and still is one of the most well-known writers and speech givers. As all do, King has his own style, his own way of delivering the idea he was trying to get across. This style -his style, involved an excess amount of metaphors and descriptions. In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, king says "... but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.” This is an amazing example of King's style; it is rich with metaphor and over-flowing with visual concepts. But what are they and, more importantly, why are they? King describes a horse and buggy to express the slow rate in which the United States is moving in the terms of social and political equality. The entire sentence…
In Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, he enhances his argument through the use of logos and allusion. MLK uses logos on page 6 when he states "Birmingham is the most thoroughly segregated city in the U.S." He is comparing Birminghams segregation to every other city in the U.S. He supports his argument with factual evidence. These facts make his argument more believable and reliable. MLK also uses allusion on page 8 when he states " We can never forget that everything that Hitler did in Germany was legal." He mentions Hitler to help support him in his argument by hoping that you will compare it to the segregation that was happening at the time and realize that the people participating in the acts believe it is moral or okay.…