martin luther
King's "A Letter From Birmingham City Jail": An Analysis Martin Luther King Jr., one of the greatest speakers for the Blackcivil rights movement, had written many great works in his time. Two of hispieces stand out as his greatest works, Letter from Birmingham City Jail; aletter written from a jail in Birmingham where he was arrested fordemonstrating peacefully, to clergymen who didn't agree with his views, andI Have a Dream; a speech given by King in front of the Washington Memorialat a huge civil rights tea party. Both works convey the same message: thetime has come where Black Americans will not stand for civil injustices anylonger. The way in which the works are written, however, are different, forone is a letter, to be read by a few, and the other is a speech, to be A Letter from Birmingham City Jail is exactly that; it is a letterKing wrote to a group of clergy members who disapproved of his actions inBirmingham City. The fact that this is a letter is blatantly apparent rightfrom the beginning, King's use of first person clearly defines it as himtalking to the clergy members, not a convention, or a rally, nothing In his first paragraph, King establish
unjust if itis inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right tovote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. " Just in case this isstill too abstract, he gives an actual real event, asking "Who can say thatthe legislation of Alabama which set up the state's segregation laws wasdemocratically elected?". He wants to show that what the nation promised wouldhave been great if the nation had come through with it. in Birmingham because injustice is [there]. Amongst them were the fact that"Birmingham [was] probably the most thoroughly segregated city in theUnited States. ", not just time to reach racialjustice. I doubtthis is in a sarcastic tone, for upsetting is probably the last thing Kingwants to do, so, he probably means it. He justifies to this mass of people why they have gathered here,but by using a metaphor, he appeals to their auditory senses, metaphors areeuphonious, they please the ear. " Not only that, but that "Negroes [had] experienced grossly unjusttreatment in the courts. In the third and fourth paragraph, King uses an extended metaphorto appeal to the crowd even more, he states that : In a sense [they] have come [their] nation's capital to cash acheck. By now, the clergymen may have their eyes wide open, but theirwounds must be just as wide; they feel pretty insulted.
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Acceptance Essays
