Letter from Birmingham Jail Mlk free essay sample

In the Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. creates a powerful response to a statements from eight white Alabama clergymen opposing his sit-ins and marches in Birmingham, Alabama. In the letter King is defending his peaceful demonstrations and stance on nonviolence. According to the clergymen, everyone should live life by common sense and by law and order and feel that the battle for integration should take place in the local and federal courts and not by breaking the law. King agrees to a point, but feels that there are just and unjust laws.He believes segregation laws are unjust because they negatively affect African Americans and make them inferior to white people. When negotiation fails, direct action is needed to establish creative tension and issues need to be dramatized so that they can no longer be ignored. This is why he organizes a peaceful direct action parade and protest which helps advance the Civil Rights Movement. We will write a custom essay sample on Letter from Birmingham Jail Mlk or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He is arrested on the charge of violating Alabama’s law against mass public demonstrations and this letter is written while he is in the Birmingham jail.King uses many different types of literature devices in his letter. He uses imagery, biblical references, repetition, and other techniques in his writing style to convey his message to his audience. You can sense King’s emotion and anger at what the clergymen say about the Civil Rights events. Since King is a preacher and is communicating to a fellow group of clergymen, he appropriately uses biblical references which draw a tighter connection to his audience. The clergymen are more educated so King uses a higher level of writing style. King also incorporates a tone of sarcasm at times with his statements.He skillfully develops compelling messages that support nonviolent civil disobedience as a way of overcoming segregation and racism and wants to convince his audience that it is ok to protest against unjust laws. The Civil Right Movement during the 1960s focuses on eliminating segregation and prejudice. King writes about the emotional suffrage the black population goes through such as police brutality, the lynching, drowning and kicking of black fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters. In order to fully explain this suffering, King uses graphic illustrations to highlight the problems. Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light† (King 91). King is using imagery to show` that injustice is exposed just like a boil is exposed. If it is never brought up, injustice will never go away. In order for the boil to go away, people have to see the boil; you cannot just cover it up. King wants the audience to realize that they cannot cover up all the problems and act like nothing is wrong; the problems will all eventually spill out.People have to see injustice, know that it is going on, or experience it in order for them to stop injustice. By using imagery King wants the audience to see how the white population punishes the black population and how the black population misses out on things. â€Å"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 eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children† (King 88).King uses this type of imagery so the reader will have a better understanding of what the black population has to go through and how this is creating a bitterness towards white people. Another effective literature device that King uses throughout his entire letter is repetition. The first words King repeats is direct action. King strongly believes in direct action, which is why he repeats it multiple times. He is trying to spread the idea of nonviolence as the way to address the issues and wants to ensure his audience knows that this requires direct action; they just can’t sit back and wait for change to occur. Repetition is also used when King repeats I am and I would. He is very angry that the clergymen sent him the letter so he uses these words in a sarcastic manner as in the sentence â€Å"I am sure that each of you would want to go beyond the superficial social analyst who looks merely at effects, and does not grapple with underlying cause† (King 85). Another word King repeats throughout a majority of his letter is unjust. King hates that the black population gets treated unfairly and he wants his point to be very clear.In order for the audience to pick up on things he repeats unjust multiple times. Doctor Martin Luther King uses a unique type of writing style in his letter. In the letter King says he got invited to jail not that he is sent to jail. Since King stands up for what he believes in, he gets sent to jail. He strongly believes in integration and nonviolence and wants not only the clergymen, but the world to know the issues he is protesting about. A part of King’s writing style is pointing his finger at certain people. When King ays, â€Å"You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham† (King 85). By using his clever writing style King, points his finger at the eight clergymen. King is saying that it is the clergymen’s fault and responsibility that he is in jail. The clergymen should feel the anger in King’s writing. To make his writing more interesting he uses numbers instead of separating the four basic steps of the nonviolent campaign with commas. By King using numbers he gets to the point faster in his writing.If someone was scanning the page they would see the numbered list and most likely read that list because it is something different from the normal text on a page. Another writing tool King uses is directly pointing out the flaws in the clergymen’s views and explaining exactly why he is disappointed in them. King also adds questions to the letter. These questions are ones in which he believes are on people’s minds such as, are you able to endure the ordeals of jail, are you able to accept the blows without retaliating, why direct action, why sit-ins, etc.King puts questions into his letter so the audience will become more curious and continue reading to see his responses. A way King’s writing style is changing throughout the letter is towards the end when King is stating exactly what unjust laws and just laws are, to make sure everyone is on the same page. King is not sugar coating anything for the readers. Finally, a writing style approach that King takes is giving exact names of people that feel the same way he does.King is showing that he is not the only person who feels this way. He is showing the audience that there are other people that believe in the same values that he does. Martin Luther King is a preacher and uses biblical references to draw the connection to his audience which is a fellow group of clergymen. King talks about Martin Buber, Saint Augustine, and Saint Thomas Aquinas in his letter. The clergymen look up to these significant men. The Saints would be ashamed of the clergymen for having unjust views.The clergymen are disrespecting their Saints and should realize what they have done wrong. King also talks about the injustice that is going on in Birmingham, Alabama which is why he is there. Dr. King refers to the, â€Å"eighth-century prophets left their little villages and carried their â€Å"thus saith the Lord† far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns† (King 84). This is saying that the prophets left their hometowns to spread the word of the Lord, just like Apostle Paul left his illage and spread the word of Jesus Christ to practically every city of the Graeco-Roman world. Now King left his hometown to spread the word of freedom. In conclusion, King uses a multitude of literary devices to convey a strong response to the statement from the clergymen, in the Letter From Birmingham Jail. By using all aspects of literary devices it shows us the emotions felt by King and makes the point that injustice should not be tolerated by Americans. King uses biblical references since he is a preacher.King tells us how the prophets would leave their hometown and spread the word about the Lord and how he leaves his own hometown to spread the word of freedom. He gives a vivid image of a little colored girl that cannot go to an amusement park because she is black. King gives us this image to make the white population of his time feel bad for what they are doing. Finally Martin Luther King uses a different type of writing style throughout the document including numbers, questions, and statements to grab the reader’s attention so they want to read more.