Letter of Birminham Jail

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Compare and Contrast: "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and "Civil Disobedience" Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. both attempt to argue for the rights to disobey authority if there is social injustice. Thoreau analyzes the duty and responsibility of citizens to protest and take action against corrupt laws of the government. Likewise, King conveys to his audience that the laws of the government against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as an instrument of freedom. They both effectively illustrate their philosophy that civil disobedience is a necessity, and the similarities and differences of these two essays are portrayed through their occasion, audience, purpose, speaker, tone, appeals, and rhetorical strategies. The occasion of a persuasive essay can give the reader an understanding of why the author may be persuading the audience about a certain topic. Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," is written in the United States, during the transcendentalism era, around 1837 to 1840's. His occasion also includes the small amount of time he spent in jail for not paying his taxes. On the other hand, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is written more than one hundred years later. King writes in Birmingham Alabama during the Civil Rights Era. Similar to Thoreau's, King's occasion is in a jail cell, but for almost the majority of his essay. Both of these essays have occasions that take place during a time when there was a large amount of concern about social injustice of the government and it is understood why the authors would write their essays in the first place. The audience allows the author to be focused on certain groups or individuals. Thoreau and King both aim at large audiences. Thoreau focuses on U.S. citizens, primarily intellectuals in the East and North of the United States. It can be understood that Thoreau's audience
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