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Rhetorical Devices In Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who nonviolently protested against the Jim Crow Laws in Birmingham, Alabama. He wrote a letter to the clergymen and made valid and solid points, arguing how the laws are injustice and not equal. While writing his letter, King uses various rhetorical devices and appeals to argue that his activities are not "unwise and untimely". In the beginning of King's letter, he establishes credibility and explains that he is not an outsider like people think he is. He proves that by saying that he has organizational ties, Biblical Duty, and Interrelatedness with America. King has organizational ties such as being "president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference." And that is an important …show more content…

He explains it by giving examples: "In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. ", and in the Boston Tea Party they threw tea overboard to prove to Britain how they were not going to pay the overpriced taxes and not follow the law. Also, "It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake." This shows that when God sent Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and, that when they didn't obey Nebuchadnezzar, that they got killed either way, but in the end they stuck to their faith with God. And then God punished Nebuchadnezzar for torturing those three and made him live seven years in torture until he confessed his sins. These resources that Martin provides should greatly affect the reader and open their eyes as to how long civil disobedience and the massive extent of injustice has been going on for centuries and how it has affected the population and all people. Those examples provide great evidence as to why the world and countries have been injustice for so long and there needs to be a change and it has to be now or

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