Arturo Menendez
Per 3 A.P. English
4/26/96
Ms. Salesky
King's Works: An
Analysis Martin Luther King Jr., one
of the greatest speakers for the Black civil rights movement, had written many
great works in his time. Two of his pieces stand out as his greatest works,
Letter from Birmingham City Jail; a letter written from a jail in Birmingham
where he was arrested for demonstrating peacefully, to clergymen who didn't
agree with his views, and I Have a Dream; a speech given by King in front of
the Washington Memorial at a huge civil rights tea party. Both works convey the
same message: the time has come where Black Americans will not stand for civil
injustices any longer. The way in which the works are written, however, are
different, for one is a letter, to be read by a few, and the other is a speech,
to be heard by many.
A Letter from Birmingham City Jail is exactly
that; it is a letter King wrote to a group of clergy members who disapproved of
his actions in Birmingham City. The fact that this is a letter is blatantly
apparent right from the beginning, King's use of first person clearly defines
it as him talking to the clergy members, not a convention, or a rally, nothing
general.
In his first paragraph, King establishes why he
is in Birmingham, however, he is not clear, as he states, ". . . [he],
along with several members of [his]
staff, [are] [there] because [he] was invited [there]. [He] is here because
[he] has organizational ties [there].". In other words, he was there
because what he does brought him here, kind of like a job.
In the second paragraph, he becomes crystal
clear, by stating that he is " . . . in Birmingham because injustice is
[there].". Not only does he present why he is there, but he justifies it
by alluding to biblical characters such as "the Apostle Paul", and
"Paul" who did the same. Not only is this a show of intellect, but it
is as well an appeal to the senses of his audience, for they are, after all,
clergymen, and he has justified his actions on their terms.
By the fifth paragraph, he has stopped trying
to use rhetorical devices, and is well into stating the cold hard facts about
the injustice of Birmingham. He states facts that were obvious to his audience,
but they were unwilling to admit to themselves. Amongst them were the fact that
"Birmingham [was] probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the
United States.", and that "Its ugly record of brutality [was] widely
known." Not only that, but that "Negroes [had] experienced grossly unjust
treatment in the courts. There [had] been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes
and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation.".These
are the main point of the letter, the injustices that King is trying to get rid
of.
He goes on to explain how he could understand
how they might be upset their " . . . willingness to break laws. This is
certainly a legitimate concern.". By saying so, he has express a concern
that he really does care about what they think. So, he goes on to explain that
" . . . there are two types of laws: just and unjust." He also
explains that he " . . . would be the first to advocate obeying just
laws.One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws.
Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.". The
use of antithesis works to accentuate his statement, and then, he not only
states it as his own, but ". . . agree[s] with St. Augustine that ' an
unjust law is no law at all'". Making this biblical reference not only
proves that his views are shared by others, but that they were in the bible,
shared by a saint.
After much explanation and re-iteration, King
starts getting simple, and switches from the abstract to the concrete, giving
examples of what he is trying to get across; this is almost insulting, but King
wants to make sure to get his point across. He speaks of a law being " . .
. unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the
right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law." Just in case
this is still too abstract, he gives an actual real event, asking "Who can
say that the legislation of Alabama which set up the state's segregation laws
was democratically elected?". The use of this statement as a rhetorical
question amplifies its potence, because it begs for an answer; a simple
statement would have proven to be too offensive, making King look like the
villain. In the paragraph after that, he becomes blunt saying; "I hope you
are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out." He clearly wants
to make sure that they comprehend this, but at this point it is insulting; King
fails to see how they failed to see. He ends this part of his argument by
stating that "One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly,
and with a willingness to accept the penalty.". He trying to show that
when a person breaks an unjust law, it will be to show the world that it is
unjust, not to simply break it and try to get away with it.
Last, he starts using their words against them,
and that he was " initially disappointed as being categorized as an
extremist,". However, as he continued to think about it, he " . . .
gradually gained a satisfaction from the label.". He then goes on to
compare himself to a number of biblical characters who were extremists,
"Jesus", who was an " . . . extremist for love: 'Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you.'". He also compares himself to "Amos",
"Paul", and even characters that were not from the bible, such as
"Martin Luther", "John Bunyan, "Abraham Lincoln", and
many more. The point is, that he is not trying to impress the clergymen with
his biblical references anymore, he has gone on to include them, and historical
allusions, showing how it has been since the beginning of time.
By now, the clergymen may have their eyes wide
open, but their wounds must be just as wide; they feel pretty insulted. To make
sure that there are no hard feelings, he states; "I hope that this letter
finds you strong in the faith. I also hope that circumstances will soon make it
possible for me to meet each of you not as an integrationist or a civil right
leader but as a fellow clergyman and a Christian Brother.". I doubt this
is in a sarcastic tone, for upsetting is probably the last thing King wants to
do, so, he probably means it. This of course, is strong, because it clearly
identifies him as being the extreme philanthropist, he is portrayed as the good
man he is.
In his
speech, I Have a Dream, King starts by
making a subtle but powerful allusion to the Gettysburg Address, when he says,
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.". Not only does King start
his speech the same way Lincoln did, by using the word score to keep track of
years, but he also referred to him and the Emancipation Proclamation; both of
which are clear symbols of the civil rights movement. However, after placing
the Emancipation Proclamation on a pedestal, he knocks it down with his second
paragraph, where he clearly makes an offensive on Lincoln and his proclamation,
by starting it with the phrase, " But one hundred years later, we must
face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free." . Once again, not
only does the sentence serve its purpose in its words, but in its rhetoric;
King clearly states that the Negro is still not free, but he also insults the
Gettysburg Address when he says one hundred years, for as he used five score to
raise up the Gettysburg Address, he used one hundred years to knock it down. It
all works even better taking into consideration that I Have a Dream is a
speech, and so was the Gettysburg Address, and with all this, King immediately
has his audience in his grasp, for he has appealed to them in both the
political sense, in that he has satisfied what the crowd wants to hear, and
rhetorically, in making what the crowd wants to hear more pleasing to them.
In the third and fourth paragraph, King uses an
extended metaphor to appeal to the crowd even more, he states that :
In a sense [they] have come [their]
nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects
of our republic wrote the . . . Constitution and Declaration of Independence,
they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to
fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable
rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
He justifies to
this mass of people why they have gathered here, but by using a metaphor, he
appeals to their auditory senses, metaphors are euphonious, they please the
ear. However, in the fourth paragraph he makes it " . . . obvious today
that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of
color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has
given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has been marked '
insufficient funds.'". Just like in
the first and second paragraph, he lifts up, and then brings down; what was
once great, is revealed as small. He wants to show that what the nation
promised would have been great if the nation had come through with it.
King's last and most prominent rhetorical
device is that of parallel construction. The assertion of an idea becomes more
powerful with its repetition. In many a paragraph he will use a phrase that is repeated time and again in the
paragraph. In paragraph two, for example, he makes clear that "One hundred
years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled . . . . One hundred
years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island . . . . One hundred years
later, the Negro still languishes in the corners of American society and finds
himself an exile in his own land.".
King could have easily said that one hundred years later, the life of the
Negro is in a sorry state, but by the use of parallel construction, he has
asserted that " Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time to rise from, the dark and desolate valley of segregation to
the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of the
opportunity to all of God's children.", not just time to reach racial
justice.
Another way he employs parallel construction is
by making small essays of five or six sentences, inside his speech. An example
of this is when King states that:
There are those who are asking the
devotees of civil rights, 'when will you be satisfied?'
We can never be satisfied as long
as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
We can never be satisfied as long
as our bodies, heavy with fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels
of the highways and the cities.
We cannot be satisfied as lon
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