“Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. states this in his famous ” Letter From Birmingham Jail” in which he responds to white clergy-men who critize him for ” unwise and untimely demonstrations”. During the jail sentence he serves, he writes this letter where he addresses the clergymen and expresses his attitude toward the statements made about him. He constructs his response through the use of parallelism, allusions, and sets the tone of the letter with powerful diction.
Blacks are going through a really tough time during this Negro revolution in 1963 and Dr. King accentuates the point by the use of strong diction, which set the tone of the letter. For example, Dr. King elucidates the reason his people can’t wait for their rights and that’s because ” hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill” his ” black brothers and sisters” and that basically most white people torment them any chance they get. The fact that he brings up physical abuse being brought upon his people should be enough to persuade the clergymen that what he is doing isn’t wrong. The tone of the statement leaves a profound impression that his people need equality if they are going to survive in this country. In addition, he exemplifies how segregation affects the life of his people like when a black parent finds his or herself ” tongue twisted” and their “speech stammering” when explaining to their tear-filled six-year-old daughter she can’t go to an amusement park just advertised on television because she is colored. The fact that a parent can’t explain to her daughter she can’t attend a public place because of her color, punctures any sensible heart. The fierce example Dr. King uses to depict the painfulness of segregation truly enforces his main point in the letter.
The Essay on Qianlong’s letter to King George III
Qianlong is often criticized for not engaging more with the West and launching China more on the path to modernisation. This is most evident when Britain sent an embassy to China in 1793 led by Lord George Macartney to discuss the possibility of China opening up to more free trade with Britain. Qianlong rejected the idea of the opening up of China to trading more freely with Britain, and ...
The personifications and allusions Dr. King utilizes in his letter also eludes the readers from their racists ways. For example, upon his explanation of his people’s peaceful protests and how they are condemned because they “precipitate violence”, he counters with an allusion by stating, ” Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique God-conscious and never ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of the Crucifixion”. By making a statement that completely concurs with what the whites are doing to the implements that they are halting the protests for unreasonable reasons. This makes a strong and changes the attitudes to people who might disagree with him. Furthermore, going back to the colored girl who can’t go to the amusement park, Dr. King peers into her mind and sees ” depressing clouds of inferiority” beginning to form in her “little mental sky”. The heart-piercing statement of a six-year-old forming depressing clouds is a very effective and powerful statement, in which the little six-tear-old mind already begins to develop bitterness towards whites. This kills the future of America [children] and scars them for eternity.
The powerful statements compressed to create the masterpiece that is the “Letter From Birmingham Jail” sends a strong point out to all of Dr. King’s oppressors. The perfect blend of allusions and personification with powerful and persuasive diction sprinkled all around brings to life one of Dr. King’s greatest and most effective writings.
The Essay on Religious Allusions and Metaphors—Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King, Jr., in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail, responds forcefully yet politely to a public statement made by eight Alabama clergymen in 1963. He defends his position as an African American and strongly defends racial equality, referencing countless sources and utilizing several literary devices. Most significantly, King uses frequent Biblical allusions and metaphors, not ...
