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Letter From Birmingham Jail Summary

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King’s View Why Did Martin Luther King Write Letter from a Birmingham Jail? King is trying to spread enlightenment to people to make things more equal between people. Martin Luther King, who wrote Letter from a Birmingham Jail, was invited to Birmingham because of all the segregation and injustice there. King went to Birmingham to fix the injustice and make things equal. The author’s use of pathos, allusion, and rhetorical questions reveals how segregation affects people and how the author is trying to show how it can be fixed. The author uses pathos, which shows the reader how bad segregation affects colored people. For example, when the author describes how segregation can affect colored people’s feelings, it says, “.when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that had just been advertised on television, and …show more content…

The syllable of the syllable. By using the example King told, the audience can see how segregation affects colored people because they can’t enjoy the same things as white people. It shows how segregation causes colored people to be sad because of how unequal this is and all the things that prevent them from enjoying life. Besides pathos, the author uses other devices to get his word out. Through the use of Allusion, the author shows what his goals are and what he is trying to achieve. In the text it says, “...just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarso and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the four corners of the Greco Roman world...” (King para. 9). The syllable of the syllable. This quote shows how King compares himself to someone who leaves their home to help spread wisdom. King had left his home to help the people of Birmingham be more equal. Finally, King uses one more device that helps get his point across. The rhetorical question in the text, shows the reader what the injustice of segregation is in people's

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“Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King Jr. is a piece of writing that King wrote in response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen. King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963. King was a strong believer in equality. He led a non-violent protest in 1963 against lunch counter segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. King was a leader of the civil rights movement, a fight to gain equal rights for all people.

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This is critical because it gives a sense of urgency. The description of the “...quicksand of racial injustice” and the “...solid rock of human dignity...” paints a picture of the real-life issues of society. Moreover, King also uses pathos and emotional language to get the reader's attention. In addition, it pulls at the reader’s heartstrings. Dr. King uses words such as “destructively” and “appalling silence” to help us understand what King is trying to convey.

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This causes the readers to have an emotional reaction and it can cause them to become sympathetic for the African American population. When referring to the term injustice, the author is appealing to pathos. In the statement, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

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King's careful choice of words are used to sway the reader's sympathy for blacks and to increase the morale of the discriminated. King uses parallelism to add balance and rhythm to his rhetoric. He writes of his own problems that may apply to the daily struggles of the abused African

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After he explains how badly his people were treated, his pathos rhetoric fades for a little bit as later in the letter he builds it up from sadness to a tone of hopefulness. King uses inspirational phrases such as, “something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained.” This phrase shows how after all the brutality one goes through due to segregation, one still remains to fight for he rightfully deserves. With such determination and the power for these people to keep on fighting for what they should be rightfully given gives the reader a burst of passion and inspiration which may influence one to see from the point of view of

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On page 285 King says, “Supreme Court 's decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws” King’s allusion reinforces the facts of his argument by directing the critical event of the decision made in 1954. It shows that the decisions that are being made are not helping the problem that Birmingham has, it is only making the segregation problems worse. It’s efficient because it shows that the courts have been making laws that are what the called just but, in reality, they are anything, but just they are unjust laws that shouldn’t be

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In the rhetorical piece, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written by Martin Luther King Jr. in April of 1963. Published by The Atlantic in response to the criticism that is leveled against protests that took place in Birmingham, Alabama. King explains why he is in Birmingham, and he is there with himself being the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King was called by an affiliate so that he could engage in a nonviolent program, since there is injustice that needs to be addressed. King cannot sit in Atlanta, and ignore the injustices because injustice that takes place anywhere is a threat to having justice everywhere.

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King compares some of his work to Socrates. He claims he is “creating tension” as to raise awareness about segregation the way Socrates raised awareness about

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King’s argument begins with him writing back to the clergymen who sent him “The Public Statement” who have criticized the demonstrations King was leading in Birmingham. They told King that he should wait until racial injustice was taken care of, that he was an outsider who had no right to be there, and his actions were causing violence. King had a right to argue for black rights but this was overlooked by the white clergymen. King’s arguments were more valid than anything the clergymen could possibly think of.

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King compels his audience to either compromise between their indifference and their patriotism for the nation or to conflict with the values and morals that they live by. He makes a straightforward connection to how ending segregation will be for the benefit of the country by indicating that if they do not solve the problems segregation brings as soon as possible, then the United States will eventually be caught and surpassed by countries that are supposedly far behind them. King also introduces the thought that the people accusing his actions of being untimely are not highly knowledgeable or fully aware of the severity of what they are fighting for. Through this, the audience easily comprehends that he is not just acting upon his personal goals, rather he is acting upon what he feels will be for the betterment of the nation. On top of this, the audience can also understand or infer that segregation may be worse than previously imagined.

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How can a parent tell his/her child he/she cannot go to an amusement park or how white people hate them because of their color of their skin. In addition, he writes about how embarrassing it is to see signs that say “white” and “colored” and how black people are told “boy” “nigger” instead of their name or Mr/Mrs.. He argues that they don't understand because they do not have to face this type of discrimination and cruelty. His argument is, essentially, tapering in into their inner sensitivity. He wants them to imagine them self in the shoes of an African American and feel, hear, and sense the injustice, so they can understand why it is time to stop waiting and to take action.

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939 Words | 4 Pages

King also takes great length t0 distinguish between just and unjust laws. He describes “ Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality ” (par. 16). He shares all this in hopes that the clergymen and others will understand that it is morally incorrect for segregation to be practiced because everyone should be treated equally. Finally, King tells them “I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom” (par. 26).

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also utilizes anaphora to emphasize the importance of the issue and acknowledge it. Many people have told King and his supporters that it is not the right time and they need to wait. In response, he explains just how badly colored people are treated and why they can’t “wait”. He knows these white clergymen can never fully understand the hardship created by segregation and discrimination. To illustrate it for them he lists off the injustices, from the emotional pain of explaining racism to his kids, to examples of lynching and extreme police brutality.

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914 Words | 4 Pages

King chooses to present racial inequity to his audience from a familiar perspective: “. When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos: ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?’” (King 479). By presenting this injustice through a father's perspective in sharing disappointing news, he allows his audience to relate their experiences sharing difficult news and create a closer understanding of the injustice their leadership was

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1229 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout his speech he implies a lot of metaphors to make his speech effective and influencing. For example, King constantly describes the Negroes as being “crippled” by the “manacles of segregation”, “Storms of Persecution,” and “chains of discrimination.” Through these metaphors King indicates the crises the Negroes face. A few of King’s strongest metaphors are his references to prejudice: “the quick sands of racial injustice”, the “heat of oppression”, “the dark and desolate valleys of segregation”, and the “chains of discrimination.” King also indicates the unbearable inequality by creating an image: “the sweltering summer of the negro’s discontent.”

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