Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written in Birmingham Jail in 1963 as a response to the Clergymen to explain his actions and also to answer their questions on why he did not call off the demonstrations. King was a civil rights activist who organized a campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. In his letter, King uses anaphora and allusions frequently. He also appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos to make his letter a paradigm of effective rhetoric. King uses allusions frequently throughout his letter.
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.
Beginning in chapter 12 Paul discussed how Christians are to live. In Romans 12:1 Paul urges the Christians: “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” Paul continuously reminds the people to live above reproach and renew their minds so that they do not become part of the world. In the entire book of Romans Paul discusses the topic of how we as Christians should live, but Moo makes a great point in our book of how chapter 12 is a more in depth teaching on this matter. Moo states that "All theology is practical, and all practice, if it is truly Christian, is theological. Paul's gospel is deeply theological, but it is also eminently practical.
In his “I Have a Dream Speech” he is more so talking to the white majority that has held him and all of the other colored people being segregated against and to the black people that want to make a difference in history and further the civil rights movement and get the rights they deserve. Once he has his target audience engaged, much like in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” his language becomes very simple and direct again. The difference is, he is now urging direct action . His tone becomes more “preacher like” as he says “Go back to Mississippi: Go back to Alabama: Go back to South Carolina: Go back to Georgia: Go back to Louisiana: Go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair”(King) His assumptions of the basis of American society (religion, founding fathers, and the American Dream) enable him to keep his intended audience paying attention for what he most wanted to convey—the emotional battle of those involved in the campaign for civil rights.
and just as the Apostle Paul left his village . . . and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my hometown” (742). In this way, the Reverend places his mission of preaching freedom alongside the efforts of the prophets of old in terms of importance, and thus invites the reader to reflect upon the noble task he is undertaking.
Effective missionaries are lifelong learners of culture, working to understand where their people currently are so they can lead them to a true, yet truly enculturated, understanding of the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. They understand that the core of the Good News can come wrapped in different packages and expressions. That is all to say, this book by Reggie McNeal resonates with my passion for people with a missional faith. That we should be more missional. To survive as a church in this modern western world, we need a huge paradigm shift of being missional.
Now, when he would communicate, as an alternative to having communication for Afro-Americans, he brought a message for all races (The Black Scholar, 2011). After he changed his attitude he would go onto meet with Martin Luther King, Jr. and collaborates with civil rights groups like Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Congress of Racial Equality. He also rallies in Africa and the Middle East with world leaders. At the end of his life, Malcolm X became a worldwide figure, welcomed by foreign leaders and dedicated to Islam as a religion that can lessen the racial difficulties of the United States. On February 21, 1965 at the age of 39, while speaking at an engagement in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm X was shot 15 times and was pronounced dead at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital (Simon et al 2005).
Questions on Rhetoric and Style 3) King’s allusions to biblical figures and events appeal to ethos because he is proving to have credibility in what he is saying since he is referring to the bible, which many people read. Therefore, people will comprehend and trust him. It appeals to pathos since many people are religious, King is utilizing that to connect to other people’s ideas and feelings, therefore people will feel what he is feeling. 11) On paragraph 16 of the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King repeats the words “unjust law” which has an important effect on audience. He is describing what unjust laws are to him with a serious tone, but calm at the same time.
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.
Writing puts our thoughts onto paper and makes them visible. In George Orwell’s essay Why I Write he describes four great motives for writing. The first of which is Egoism, the desire to be well known and remembered. I think that egoism is one of the main motives for why people write, however I don’t think that it is the most accepted or sought after by readers. The second motive Orwell mentions is Aesthetic Enthusiasm, where an experience or a certain outlook on a situation is described through writing.