LfBJ Essay

Nathaniel Burns-Sarno
Advanced Placement English/ Mr. George
October 14, 2009
Letter from Birmingham Jail Analysis
Martin Luther King; A Persuasive Prophet
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holds an important place in history as one of the United States’ most prominent civil rights activists. His title is rightly deserved, as he contributed greatly to the struggle for equality in America. As a man of great influence, he gained many followers and staged peaceful protests in order to relay his message to the racially segregated society he lived in. King is probably best known for his demonstrations, which he used to address the public in the hopes of opening their eyes. Many of these demonstrations landed King in jail. However, it was during his incarceration in Birmingham, Alabama that King wrote a letter to eight clergymen who had earlier chastised his acts of civil disobedience. This letter, titled Letter from Birmingham Jail, showed that King was not only a man of great influence, but also a man of great intellect. Seamlessly incorporating proper syntax and diction into his appeals, King creates an outstanding an outstanding logical argument while still inserting his own ideas and emotions. The kind of flawless contention King provides is rarely expected from the mouths of anyone in our modern society, much less from a black man living in the 1960s. With an exceptional eye for detail, King is able to refute the arguments of those who disapprove of his actions, appeal to the readers’ senses of logic and emotion, and most impressively, use vibrant extended analogies and juxtapositions in order to strengthen his argument.
Despite his position as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and great influence, King was bound to end up being viewed by many as a social pariah due to the color of his skin and the fact that he had been arrested on several occasions. Those two factors could have very well caused him to be looked at as an uneducated source, and made it unlikely that anyone would take the time to read his letter, much less take the time to consider his points. Therefore, King was presented with not only the task of creating powerful points and writing with proper syntax and diction, but also the task of exhibiting himself as a credible source. He does this in a few different ways, such as briefly mentioning his characteristics throughout the letter and expressing his views poignantly. However, it is through his ability to create and answer his own rhetorical questions in order to refute the arguments of those who disapprove of his actions that he truly builds himself up to be a credible source. As a black man in the 1960s, his logical approach in arguing with the Church would of course gain the attention of those reading his letter. King also uses his ability to explain his reasoning while refuting a point made against him:
You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue(King 741).
By justifying his actions while refuting the arguments of others, King creates a solid argument of his own and prevents himself from being accused of hypocrisy. This is crucial in gaining the attention of the reader. With the full attention of the reader, King is able to awaken their long-dormant senses of logic and emotion.
King, like most great speakers, appeals to both logic and emotion in his arguments. What makes King’s arguments truly unique is the he uses his expert ability to blend both logic and emotion together without getting carried away by either of the two. This ability is most apparent in the second paragraph of page seven-hundred forty-two, in which King uses extensive imagery to explain his reasons for not simply waiting for segregation to end; “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts to say, ‘Wait.’ But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim;…--then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait’(742). The gruesome and heart-wrenching situations King explains in this paragraph strike hard upon the emotions of the reader, who, in considering them, would be filled with sympathy for King’s cause. The paragraph also speaks to the readers’ logic, but in a different way. Any person who imagines their loved ones in a situation of despicable injustice will understand why King feels something needs to be done. No decent person would let those whom they love suffer for the foolish reasoning of those filled with hatred. This paragraph is also greatly complimented by its closing, in which King states, “I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience”(742). King, realizing how emotion-filled the paragraph was, decides to follow the emotion with a formal and logical statement for them to consider. This demonstrates King’s ability to keep his emotion in check, and incorporate logic even in areas in which it would not be expected. With such a mastery of logic and emotion, it is no wonder that King is able to form such solid analogies and juxtapositions in his writing.
King, while obviously well-versed in strait-talk, is able to create many extended analogies and juxtapositions and flawlessly insert them into his writing. By doing this, King paints a clear and vibrant picture for the readers, and thus makes his arguments easier to understand. A great example of King’s use of extended analogies is when King compares the eradication of tension through bringing it to the surface to the eradication of a boil through bringing it to the light:
Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured(745).
Rather than giving a long explanation of the purpose of bringing tension to the surface, King expertly sums it up in a simple comparison. His word choice in this comparison is exquisite, as he decides to compare tension, an ugly but natural part of life, to a boil, which is also an ugly but natural part of life. The comparison makes it clear to the readers just how gruesome tension can be and why it needs to be publicly executed. King also does and exceptional job with his use of juxtapositions; “The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter”(742). Here, King compares Asia and Africa, two nations usually considered to be behind other countries, to America, a nation usually considered ahead of other countries. However, rather than keeping to the accepted beliefs of the countries, King uses a reversed perspective and states how even Asia and Africa are ahead of America in some aspects. King also points out how Africa and Asia are quickly moving toward a large accomplishment while America is slowly moving toward a small accomplishment. Thanks to the imagery provided by his extended analogies and juxtapositions, King’s already poignant arguments are made truly remarkable.
Through his ability to refute the arguments of those who disapprove of his actions, appeals to logic and emotion, and use of extended analogies and juxtapositions, King creates an awe-inspiring argument that has stood the test of time and will no doubt continue to impress future readers for centuries to come. It is no wonder why his words have gained him a place in American History and still echo through society today. Any who analyze this letter will come to understand why Martin Luther King Jr. was so beloved and respected so many, and will no doubt gain a strong sense of love and respect for him, themselves.