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Analysis Of Letters From Birmingham Jail, By Martin Luther King Jr.

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Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” is an essay in which Thoreau argues that people need to put their own moral conscience above the law. The essay states that it is a citizen’s responsibility to disobey unjust laws in order to promote chance in society. Thoreau’s essay has become an important part in history because it has sparked ideas and interest in other people who later chose to take action and practice civil disobedience. Martin Luther King Jr. read the essay written by Thoreau and became inspired. King would later go to jail by acting on the idea of civil disobedience. He felt as though the concepts in the essay applied directly to him and that he should take action. King was fighting against the segregation laws that were in …show more content…

built off of the ideas originally stated in “Civil Disobedience” by explaining that immediate, nonviolent action against segregation laws was an American duty. King said that any unjust laws should not be treated as laws, and should instead be disobeyed. The letter defends the use of nonviolent resistance against racism. Without the law breaking civil disobedience practiced by King and others in the movement for civil rights, the idea that segregation needed to end might not have been taken as seriously. King took drastic measures to make sure that everyone knew that what he was fighting for was a big deal. People needed to know that breaking laws was worth it if it was for a genuinely good cause that did not harm other people. The impact of Thoreau’s work was widespread and very important. His essay began to spread the idea that the government isn’t always right, and that people need to stand up for what they believe in if they want things to change. It also helped to advance other important work by inspiring leaders to take charge and fight for what is morally correct. The thoughts and beliefs from the essay are still applicable today and still influence new movements that help to change the

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f one followed the similarities of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," they would notice that King may have been somewhat influenced by Thoreau's essay. The two essays also have many differences that are evident throughout analysis of the two essays that divide individual interpretation of each text. But it is obvious that the overall purpose of these two essays is to persuade the audiences that civil disobedience is necessary if there is social injustice in the government that governs over people.

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King explains why some laws are unjust. During the Civil Rights Movement, the oppressors made it their goal to degrade and in a sense humiliate the minority they were oppressing. For example, King asserts that segregation, a system put in place by the oppressors, in all forms are unjust because “segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” He also asserts that it “gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” King is saying that theses unjust laws are put in place so the oppressor can have control on the group they are oppressing and be able to back up through the law why what they’re doing is okay under the

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