Revision of King's "Letter from Birmingham jail"
In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr. effectively communicates how he feels about the statement of his protest to be “unwisely and untiming”, stated by religious leaders. King, a pastor and civil rights leader, was writing to church leaders in Birmingham who had criticized him for leading a protest. They made public statements opposing King and his methods for achieving change. He efficaciously uses stylistic devices such as persuasive literal and figurative language as well as the way he considers the purpose, his audience, and including the main ideas in the structure of his letter; written while he was imprisoned in the Birmingham Jail.
In paragraph eight of his letter, King uses rhetorical questions to get the clergymen to think about what should’ve been done.
Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were their voices of support when tired, bruised, and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?
Including paradox, a sentence that appears to contradict itself, in the sentence, “...Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest.”
In paragraph five of the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses a very intriguing example of law and injustice. He uses Hitler’s murder of millions of people, because it was considered "legal". His point in this paragraph is that because something is deemed legal does not make it just. King’s use of literal and figurative language in this particular sentence of paragraph five is interesting and a bit sincere; “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” The literal language is “Never forget” and “Hitler did in Germany was “legal’” is figurative. The use of Hitler is also an allusion because it is a reference in a literary work to a person in history.
In a structural standpoint, in paragraph six, he talks about the relationship between law and justice. In the paragraph where he uses Hitler as an example, he makes it clear that just because something is a law, does not mean it is just or fair. Connecting that to paragraph six, he reminds his audience that laws exist to promote justice. King points out to the clergymen that he and other activists are not causing the problems in society; they are merely showing that the problems exist so that something can be done about them. Then, he points out the fact that if a law prevents justice or progress, then it should be changed,
We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. 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, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
The structure in this paragraph is well thought out, he excellently brought together this paragraph with the paragraphs before and after, in addition to the entire letter. This paragraph also uses simile, comparing a boil to injustice.
Stylistic elements can greatly impact one’s writing. It’ll make or break him. In the case of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, it tremendously put together his letter and made it a dynamic and powerful, one to think about. “Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.” Today, I challenge those reading this` to make a difference, maybe not one as impacting as the deeds of Martin Luther King Jr., but an action that will impact someone’s life in a way that frees them from the cocoon of inequality and injustice into the freedom of a butterfly fluttering in the winds.
In paragraph eight of his letter, King uses rhetorical questions to get the clergymen to think about what should’ve been done.
Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were their voices of support when tired, bruised, and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?
Including paradox, a sentence that appears to contradict itself, in the sentence, “...Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest.”
In paragraph five of the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses a very intriguing example of law and injustice. He uses Hitler’s murder of millions of people, because it was considered "legal". His point in this paragraph is that because something is deemed legal does not make it just. King’s use of literal and figurative language in this particular sentence of paragraph five is interesting and a bit sincere; “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” The literal language is “Never forget” and “Hitler did in Germany was “legal’” is figurative. The use of Hitler is also an allusion because it is a reference in a literary work to a person in history.
In a structural standpoint, in paragraph six, he talks about the relationship between law and justice. In the paragraph where he uses Hitler as an example, he makes it clear that just because something is a law, does not mean it is just or fair. Connecting that to paragraph six, he reminds his audience that laws exist to promote justice. King points out to the clergymen that he and other activists are not causing the problems in society; they are merely showing that the problems exist so that something can be done about them. Then, he points out the fact that if a law prevents justice or progress, then it should be changed,
We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open where it can be seen and dealt with. 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, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
The structure in this paragraph is well thought out, he excellently brought together this paragraph with the paragraphs before and after, in addition to the entire letter. This paragraph also uses simile, comparing a boil to injustice.
Stylistic elements can greatly impact one’s writing. It’ll make or break him. In the case of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, it tremendously put together his letter and made it a dynamic and powerful, one to think about. “Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.” Today, I challenge those reading this` to make a difference, maybe not one as impacting as the deeds of Martin Luther King Jr., but an action that will impact someone’s life in a way that frees them from the cocoon of inequality and injustice into the freedom of a butterfly fluttering in the winds.