Language Used In Letter From Birmingham Jail

In "Letter from Birmingham Jail", "Heart of Darkness" and "She Unnames Them", language is used as a persuasive tool which shows the power that language holds. The authors of each of these pieces of writing can express how words are immensely powerful. The use of language in each of these is extremely important, since they can use it for different purposes. Different types of language can sometimes show emotion, prove a point, persuade somebody etc. Words and the use of language is extremely important in any piece of literature.

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, language is used as a persuasive technique. In his letter, he explains to the clergymen why he is in Birmingham, and why he is writing the letter. He writes

The African American community yearns for change, and they want to be able to have the same rights as Caucasians. He is in Birmingham because there was an overload of racial injustice there, and he was called by an organization he was part of to have a peaceful protest because things were getting out of control. MLK uses different appeals such as ethos, pathos and logos to persuade a large group of people into doing what he wants and changing their ways. The letter says, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” This is an example of MLK using a logical appeal by explaining how nonviolent protests are effective. He uses this to help the reader understand how his point is correct and uses logic and reasoning to back it up. The text also says “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights… when you have to concoct an answer for a five

In “She Unnames Them” by Ursula K. Quin, Eve removes names from the animals. She removes the animals' names in order to remove barriers between them, and once she does, they all start talking and different species bond with each other because they are all now one thing; animals. Language is very powerful in this story, and Eve shows it by using words to address different groups and classes, and then taking away the words to unname every animal and show how they are their own being. In the story, Eve says “They said that “yak” sounded right, and that almost everyone who knew they existed called them that. Unlike the ubiquitous creatures such as rats and fleas, who had been called by hundreds or thousands of different names since Babel, the yaks could truly say, they said, that they had a name.” This talks about the process of naming the animals, and the significance of the name to the animal. Yak sounded perfect for the animal yak, and so they used that word for the name. Eve also says “They seemed far closer than when their names had stood between myself and them like a clear barrier: so close that my fear of them and their fear of me became one same fear. And the attraction that many of us felt, the desire to smell one another’s smells, feel or rub or caress one another’s scales or skin or feathers or fur, taste one another’s blood or flesh, keep one another warm—that attraction was now all one with the fear, and the hunter could not