Whilst patriotism and freedom is held close to the hearts of African Americans, Green identifies the Christian religion as equally valued. Since most African Americans at the time were Christian, lines like “Let us, then, take up the sword, trusting in God, who will defend the right” cast an almighty, internal power upon blacks. The sacredness of God and Christianity propels them forward with their belief in fighting for freedom and their rights. Green cleverly recognizes the implications that this will insue, thus letting the powerful notion of religion do all of the motivation. A family is a family, and the love between one is unbreakable.
Analysis of “I Have a Dream” and “Letter to Birmingham Jail” In the “Letter to Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King addresses the criticisms and objections that the white clergymen had made towards his and his affiliated organization’s efforts in trying to end segregation and achieve his and his people’s birth right: the right to be free through nonviolent means. Through the “I Have a Dream Speech” King speaks to his supporters and as well as to the entire nation to make them be fully aware of the injustices they are facing and through this make them stand up to those injustices. Both “Letter to Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream Speech” have the same underlying meaning however. That way too long have the black community been treated wrongly. That way too long have the black nation been “judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character (King 815)” and therefore it is time for them to rise and stand up for their rights.
For starters, MLK communicates his respect for the Clergymen right from the beginning of the letter when he remarks “ Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas… But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth” MLK maintains this diplomatic tone throughout the most of the letter with slight changes to a more bitter and sarcastic tone in the middle of the letter evidenced by his long cumulative sentences. However, in the end MLK defaults back to his civil and respectful tone when he states “If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me.” This well mannered tone is crucial to achieving any tangible policy change while maintaining a non-violent doctrine. However MLK’s respect doesn’t prevent him from utilising many Biblical allusions -- in a way, using the Church’s weapon against them-- to express his disagreement with the Church’s claims. One of the clearest examples of this is appears in paragraph 3 where MLK parallels the supposed effects of the his protest to those of Jesus’ actions by inquiring “Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-
1. In the opening paragraph, King’s tone can be described as formal, ironic, and sarcastic because he is defending his actions against those he describes as ‘men of genuine goodwill’ and sincere. He further supports his ironic tone by mentioning his secretaries. Because this letter was written from a jail cell, King obviously did not have any secretaries. However, he mentions them in order to imply that he does get a lot of criticism and is taking particular care to address the specific concerns of the clergymen.
King was personally speaking to those in the audience he continues to describe the "creative suffering" of "police brutality" and the imprisonment in "narrow cells" still again associating himself with his audience and relating to each individual’s need. The crowd in the background yells, “Hallelujah” and “Amen” with passion as if their experience was not only in just a speech. Dr. King then tells his audience to go back to their homes knowing "that this situation can and will be changed". Introducing his famous quote "I have a dream", Dr. King proclaims to his audience that "We hold these truths to be self-evident" a United States historic quote from the Declaration of Independence, which in its original meaning and in Dr. King’s speech that logically implies that these truths that all parties have agreed to, is obviously self-evident, that peace should always be what everyone wants. As Dr. King proclaims "I have a dream" his voice begins to get louder and with a rhythmic beat swaying from side to side at his podium as the crowd cheer and praise Dr. King’s vision for the path towards freedom.
He served the community as a clergyman, activist, and leader of the Civil Rights Movement [ (Biography, 2012) ]. Through the guidance of another great thinker named Mahatma Ghandi, Dr. King followed many of Mahatma Ghandi’s teachings and shared them with society. Through Dr. King’s inspirational Christian faith, he led acts of nonviolent protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve the goal of legal equality for African Americans [ (About Dr. King, 2012)
The repetition of rhetorical questions in most people’s opinions would be considered an effective strategy. Repetition being another key weapon in Dr. King’s arsenal can drill certain ideas into the reader’s head, which is a good thing when persuading. Repetition for effect is used expertly when Dr. King repeats the phrase, “I have” to emphasize his multitude of experiences in the field of view like, “I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities” (215). Martin Luther King’s Letter From Birmingham Jail was taken well and was well respected not only by the clergymen, but by a multitude of people throughout history. This is because of the writing strategies he used that included flattery, display of credentials, allusions, use of metaphors, repetition for effect, guilt, and use of rhetorical questions, just to name a
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may have been one of the most influential leaders of his time and maybe even of all time, but it was the way in which he delivered his speeches and who he directed them towards that made him appeal to his listeners. The influence behind King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and his “I Have a Dream Speech” relied directly on his use of the power of rhetoric and the awareness of his audience. The shift of tones throughout these two works of King is what brings about the way in which the audience is directed and who it is directed towards. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Dr. King is directly in a non-broadened way addressing clergymen who were putting him to task for the non-violent protests in what they considered to
Summary Response-Letter from the Birmingham Jail In this letter, Martin Luther King Jr. describes the current states of injustice and inequality that plague the Negro community during this time as he is writing from his jail cell. He writes to his fellow supporters and brothers and explains the reasons for being in Birmingham in the first place were because he felt it was necessary to protest injustice everywhere. Communities such as Birmingham were known to observe segregation laws that isolated black people from white people and in his opinion were classified as unjust laws. He claims to be a supporter of just laws and a non-violent protestor of unjust laws in which violate human morals and dignity. By citing references of protest such as Jesus Christ, St. Paul, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, he justifies his current actions for the Negro community and states that he is willing to face the consequences when it comes to protesting for equal rights amongst all Americans.
Evaluate the persuasive techniques used by MLK in the final section of his “I Have a Dream Speech” During a time of extreme segregation in America, Martin Luther King- a man of religious background went about carrying out several peaceful protests in order to bring equality to America. One of his most famous speeches was made close to the time of his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King used many persuasive techniques within his speech to encourage change within the US. During the final section of the speech MLK applies anaphora when stating, “I have a dream”. This places emphasis on the hope that MLK has for the future of America and for it to be a place of equality.