RaNae Bonella-Anderson
English 102 : R. Mayer
Tuesday / Thursday 5.30 – 8.20 pm / Summer 2008
Assignment No. 02: Final
In April of 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to an article that appeared in a local newspaper. In a commentary titled "A Call for Unity" eight white clergymen asked for an end to the Negro demonstrations that had been taking place. Alleging that they were “directed and led, in part, by outsiders and claimed that their actions were causing racial friction and unrest” (Call). The clergymen also felt that if any civil rights were been denied it was a matter for the courts and should not be carried out in the streets. King’s letter was in response to the statements made and to explain why his actions were necessary and why he was frustrated with being told to “wait, which he equates to meaning never” (741). King, keenly aware of the deteriorating social climate in Birmingham couldn’t, with a clear conscience, “sit idly by” (739). When an opportunity arose for King and his staff to go to Birmingham he readily accepted. King simply told his critics that, “I am here because I was invited here. I am in Birmingham because injustice is here” (739). His actions landed him in jail, for eleven day’s, which gave him time to pause and reflect on the comments of his detractors. King’s letter is filled with wide range of successful devices that draws the reader in. The most prominent and dramatic uses are his ability to establish a genuine rapport with his audience, his skill at asking the most poignant of questions, a compelling handling of emotional words, and his powerful handling of analogy’s.
King, a fourth generation preacher draws upon this fact to establish a genuine rapport. An artful kinship is made and allows the reader to feel the sincerity of his words. King offers friendly expressions such as “my fellow clergymen” (738), in the opening of his letter and then later refers to them as “my Christian and Jewish brothers” (744). King establishes a common ground directed by faith. Moreover, by explaining that “Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas” (738) King is telling his readers that they are important enough for him to take the time to reflect upon what has been presented to him. By being respectful of their time, understanding of their titles, (Bishops et al), and reverent of their faith, King’s tactic tells the clergymen that they are as significant as the words he is writing. By using this type of relationship King maintains an air of humility, speaking to them not as a superior or a subordinate, but as an equal. Kings also allows some time for self reflection when he states that, “what else can one do when one is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?” (752). By the end of his letter King has made a sincere link with his audience.
Along with genuine rapport King also has the ability to ask the most poignant of questions. By asking questions, of his own making, King is allowed the opportunity to answerer and gives relevant information. He also sets up a mode in which to answer those questions of his addressees. The clergy refer to the breaking of laws and of their concern of how King can justify his actions. In order for King to properly address these concerns he must first distinguish the difference between the two which he accomplishes by the use of questioning such as, ‘One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust’ (742). King was not advocating the breaking of the law but rather, as he quotes St. Augustine, "an unjust law is no law at all" (743) he is questioning their validity. This type of inquiring will inevitably lead the reader to Kings intended purpose of asking, “Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust?” (743), to which he will be able to explain his view’s on the laws that segregate white and black as “Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. Any law that uplifts human personality is just.” (743). Leading the reader to realize that segregation is morally wrong and oppressing a race of people due to syntax is morally reprehensible. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of mixed public schools, so why not in all areas of the public?
Even with the most poignant of questions King’s a compelling treatment of emotional words further helps the reader understand his position and frustration. These emotional words provide a powerful and visceral effect throughout the text. King’s raw emotion is evident in phrases like “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (739). He is masterful at using these ideas of intolerances, injustices and freedoms to paint a picture that if it can happen to one it can happen to all. The utilization of redundancy helps King paint that picture with phrases like, "justice too long delayed is justice denied.” (742). Also, by using commanding words more than once in the same sentence he makes his message that much more poignant. King also brings into play his own feelings in such personal statements as, “In spite of my shattered dreams of the past and in deep disappointment I have wept…” (749). Allowing the reader to be moved by his plight and the plight of his brothers. King masterfully uses of such brutal phrases as,” We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed” (741). The handling of moving terms such as denied, disappointment, and demanded help sways the reader to the writer’s point of view by the sheer power of their meaning and the skill of repetition makes his message quite clear.
Emotional words are the touchstone of King’s authoritative handling of analogies. The comparison of biblical and historical moments to present day creates a believable relationship between the two and touches upon moments in history that the clergymen can relate to. King refers to “the prophets of the eighth century B.C. and to the Apostle Paul when they left their villages to carry the gospel beyond their own hometowns” (739). As did King when he left the comfort of his home in Atlanta to help in a place where he was most certainly not welcome. Not even welcome by his fellow brethren of the cloth. King, skillfully moves on to equate his “illegal” actions to the time of Hitler’s rule over Germany stating that, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” as apposed to the “illegal” activities of the Hungarian freedom fighters” (744) an extreme analogy during a time of extreme need. King also refers to being called an extremist, in “A Call for Unity” to which he reply’s with, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love? Was not Amos an extremist for justice? Was not Paul an extremist? Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson? So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be” (747). King’s equating the current plight of Negroes to those of the Jews makes a clear and compelling comparison. King informs his audience that he to is no different and his cause just as worthy.
Martin Luther King Jr. was as eloquent a writer as he was a successful orator and his message of racial equality is as clear as the masterful strategy’s he employed. At some point in life we have all felt the bitter sting of not being apart of something, some group, some moment in time, the feeling of being alone or not included, those key moments in life are the moments that King uses to make us feel the relevance of the world in which he speaks and writes about. His tactic are not unique or new but his ability to move people to action with his words made King the perfect leader for such an uphill battle that was the civil rights movement. No matter what rhetorical strategy King used it worked, people listened, and we are a better people, black and white, for having done so.
Work Cited
King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The Writer’s Presence. Ed. Donald
McQuade and Robert Atwan. 5th Edition.738-753. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin (2006).
Wikipedia. “A Call For Unity.” 23 May 2008. 23 June 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A
_Call_For_Unity.
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