No one should be restricted from rights and opportunities that others are given for that long. Letter from Birmingham Jail: Symbols, Motifs, and Rhetorical Devices He used the enraged energy he felt to empower his fellow African Americans to stand up for their rights. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. Jefferson, for example, was considered an extremist for arguing, in the opening words to the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal. uses the device anaphora at many points in his letter to convey the importance of what he is repeating. Oppenheimer, D. B. The merchants disingenuous dealings with African American leaders only exacerbates that humiliation. At the center of civil disobedience is the public nature of law-breaking: these African Americans are protesting publicly, and allowing themselves to be arrested, to bring attention to the unjust laws. By continuing well assume you board with our cookie policy. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper. The image [], We provide you with original essay samples, perfect formatting and styling. In paragraph 24, Dr. King Jr. names of different people who were "extremists" of the right beliefs; he said "Was not Jesus an extremist for love was not Paul an extremist for Christian gospelwas Martin Luther not an extremist" The people listed were called extremists yet they fought for justice and to stop the spread of negativity. In Henry David Thoreaus Civil [], On April 16, 1963, DR. Martin Luther King, Jr responded in the newspaper which had been written by some clergymen urging him to abandon the demonstrations which he was leading in Birmingham. The most evident aspect states, when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot 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 developing a bitterness toward white people (King Jr, 1963). He says I doubt that you would so quickly commended the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. Alongside the more obvious threats of death, bodily harm, or imprisonment, African Americans suffer from more complex issues like financial uncertainty and a sense of inferiority. All in all Martin Luther King Jr has successfully used three rhetorical appeals to spread awareness of the injustice segregation that has been unlawfully opposed in Birmingham, Alabama through his writing in the Letter from Birmingham, To solve the biggest issue Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail addressing to Clergyman. The letter emphasis on discussing the discrimination that was happing in the Birmingham. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/26/article/55773/summary), Mott, W. T. (1975). To illustrate the white moderate perspective. GradesFixer. After all, Malcolm X became Coates favorite writer. He knew there was a good chance that he himself, and his fellow protestors could possibly face imprisonment, and thats exactly what happened. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. This technique consists of repeating a specific word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines or passages. The culmination of pathos and anaphora makes Letter from Birmingham Jail very effective in how the whole matter would be interpreted to change the existing situation towards equality in the United States. Martin Luther King Jrs Letter from Birmingham Jail, expressed his beliefs and his actions about the Human Rights Movement. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. The question of time comes up often in the struggle for civil rights, and King dedicates a large portion of his letter to responding to this issue from the African American perspective. By showing his own emotions, King inspires compassion in the, does use historical and biblical allusions through out his whole letter, there are two allusions that really stand out.