Outline

Nathaniel Burns-Sarno
Advanced Placement English/Mr. George
October 8, 2009
Letter from Birmingham Jail Outline
King begins his letter with the phrase “My dear fellow clergymen”, showing that despite their disapproval of his actions and words against him, he still has a great amount of compassion and respect for them.
King notes early on that he seldom takes the time to address those who criticize him. He clearly explains that the only reason that this letter is an exception is because he believes the clergy to be men of genuine good will and their criticisms to be sincerely set forth. By doing this, he appeals to the reader’s sense of logic.
King states his reasons for himself and his staff being in Birmingham to be that they were invited there, have basic organizational ties there, and most of all, because injustice is there. One of these reasons alone would justify his presence in Birmingham, but all three of them together justify why he makes his presence known.
In that same paragraph, King compares his mission to the missions of the eight century prophets and Saint Paul, as they were compelled to carry their messages beyond their particular home town and must constantly respond to the call for aid.
In the third paragraph of page 739, King expresses his displeasure that the clergy looks down upon the protests, but does not look down upon the reason that the protests began in the first place.
In the fourth paragraph of page 739, King states that Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. His use of the word “probably” prevents him from being called out for lack of factual support should there be an even more segregated city in the United States, while still keeping the severity of the situation.
At the end of the second paragraph on page 740, King states that he and his followers knew how difficult their mission would be, so they practiced methods of nonviolence to prepare themselves. This gives the reader an idea of King’s character, as even when he knows the odds are against him, he still chooses to stand up for what he believes in. What’s more, he chooses to do it through nonviolent means.
Throughout his letter, King creates his own rhetorical questions and answers them in order to refute any possible argument against him in great detail. The first example of this is at the beginning of the fifth paragraph on page 740.
At the beginning of page 742, King juxtaposes America to Africa and Asia, stating that while Africa and Asia are quickly(jet-like) moving towards a large goal(political independence), America is moving slowly(horse and buggy) toward a small goal(gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter).
The second paragraph on page 742 is a periodic sentence that is chiefly composed of extensive imagery that appeals to the reader’s emotions. Examples of this include King bringing up the situation from the perspective of children and referring to the people of his races as his “brothers and sisters”.
In the third paragraph of page 742, King explains why he follows some laws and not others, stating that there are two types of laws; just and unjust. In the second paragraph of page 743, King explains the difference between the two.
In the fourth paragraph of page 744, King compares what he and his followers are doing to the acts of the Hungarian freedom fighters. The parallel is that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal”, while everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did was “illegal”. This juxtaposition appeals to both logic and emotion. The logic in it is that the very society that looks down on what he is doing considered the freedom fighters to be heroes. Mentioning an event like the Holocaust is bound to bring out the reader’s emotions.
At the beginning of page 745, King declares shallow understanding from people of good will to be more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill-will. This is an example of inversion, and is used to show commonly held beliefs from a different perspective.
King uses continuous analogies throughout his letter, and example being in the second paragraph on page 745 when he compares what he and his followers had been doing to bringing a boil that is incurable while covered up to the surface so that is may be dealt with.
Throughout his letter, King does not attack the person. Instead, he attacks the argument. An example of this is in the third paragraph on page 745, in which King compares the statement that his actions must be condemned because they precipitate violence to saying that a robbed man must be condemned because his ownership of money precipitated the act of robbery.
In the second paragraph of page 747, King addresses that the clergy has given him the title of extremist, a term that usually contains a negative denotation, and logically examines it in order to show it has a positive denotation. He does this by mentioning numerous “extremists” who were renowned for the greatness of their actions.
In the second paragraph of page 751, King uses a great amount of parallelism.
King ends his letter with a continuous analogy.