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Homework answers / question archive / Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr

Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr

English

Letter from Birmingham Jail

by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reading the Text Questions

1.    How does King establish his ethos (i.e., his credibility, authority, or trustworthiness) in this essay? Offer at least two specific examples from the essay for support.

2.    According to King, why is action now necessary, in terms of both place and time? In other words, why in Birmingham and why at this particular moment in American history?

3.    Reread the paragraph that begins "We have waited for more than 340 years ..." and note King's use of repetition of the phrase "when you ..." throughout. Do you find this to be an effective rhetorical strategy for achieving the letter's purpose? Why or why not? Explain.

4.    King describes two types of law: just and unjust. How does he define each of these? And do you agree with his definitions? Why or why not? Explain. Note: In responding to this question, look very carefully at the logical progression of ideas in this section, and think carefully about how King considers the broader audience of this letter (the American public).

5.    According to King, what two opposing forces exist in the Negro community? How has King tried to stand between them? And why do you think he mentions this here? Explain.

6.    In what ways has King been disappointed by white moderates? By the white church? Why do you think he details all of this in his letter? Explain.

 

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1. He uses ethos  to vindicate the ways his group uses non-violent opposition. King has no default ethos since he is a known as well as a well-educated and influential African American figure. He was also known as a priest, and the priests are usually known to be trustworthy. Nevertheless, King also develops his own ethos. He continues by reflecting about activities that he and the people he 's writing to tell. Any of the events they shared is the involvement in the local elections. King says, "And it came to us that Birmingham's mayoral election was happening in March, and we immediately agreed to delay the action until after the election day." He used this to justify the timing of his organization's action on the mayoral action, since the clergy tried to contend that their timing was poor. Also, King begins another ethos statement with, "Just as Socrates thought." King attempts to reveal that he, and his organization, are not the only ones to "see the need for non-violent gadflies to build a kind of friction in society that will allow men to rise from the dark depths of discrimination." This example of ethos helps to express his rationality in the matter and contributes to his integrity as he speaks about his problems of direct action. In all, he defends the non-violent ways of his organization.

2.According to King, structural injustice in Birmingham left the African American community with no recourse to direct action. He points to the apartheid of the area, the violence of the police against the African American community, their mistreatment in court, and the unsolved bombing of African American homes and churches as examples of the circumstances that make non-violent demonstrations important at this point in history. King is still in Birmingham, and he feels obligated to react to inequality everywhere he sees it. He contrasts his work with that of the early Christians, particularly the Apostle Paul, who traveled beyond his homeland to spread the Christian Gospel. Finally, he challenges the notion that everyone in the United States should be considered an alien within the country and that the inequality surrounding many in Birmingham is inherently tied to racial injustice at national level. This is the beginning of King's point-by - point rebuttal of the accusation levied at him. King behaves with total trust that he is in the right place at the right time and that his decisions are necessary.

3. In beginning his letter by complimenting his critics, King establishes a tone of cordiality and rational dialogue. This is important, as the white authorities have attempted to portray the protesters as extremist law-breakers. Yes, He repeated the use of "when you" to highlight the innumerable ways in which blacks have been mistreated. The use of parallelism really etches into the imagination of the viewer, the almost never-ending struggles blacks experience, and the repetition makes it feel like a daily routine they're going through. Dr. King also uses metaphors in his message, such as when he says he sees "twenty million Black brothers smothering in an airtight trap of suffering in the center of a prosperous community" (383). This metaphor paints a visual image in the audience 's imagination of the injustice they go through that appears to have no door to exit. They are compelled to look at the rights and liberties that the white people of their culture have, and there is no way for them to achieve it.

4. King describes only the rules as those that adhere to the "moral rules or the law of God." Unjust laws are "out of accordance with natural practice" and "degrade human personality." King states that unjust laws blame not only the divided, but also the segregator. I'm on the side of Dr. King's concepts of a just law, a law that coincides with the rules that our God has given us, and an unfair law that is a law that can be followed by my one minority group of citizens, but it doesn't have to obey. To state it in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: the unjust law is a human law that is not embedded in the law of eternity and the law of existence. Unjust law is a system that is out of sync with the law of justice. Laws are set up to tie up the corner of our lives. We are to abide by the law, and the rapists are to obtain their rightful punishment. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that there is such a thing as "right law and unjust law." "One has not just a legal but a moral obligation to live by just rules. King addresses the idea that just and unjust rules target the divided and divided identities. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Law is fluid. Martin Luther King's words, which just correspond with the above assertion, perfectly tell us what to do in face of laws, either just or unjust. He makes a clear distinction between both of them.

5. One is a self-confidence force, made up of part of the Negroes who, as a result of long years of racism, are so devoid of self-respect and a sense of 'somebody' that they have adapted to segregation, and part of a few middle-class Negroes who, because of a degree of intellectual and economic stability and because in any respects they benefit from segregation, have become oblivious to problems. The other power or force is that of resentment and hate, and it is dangerously close to promoting aggression. Abuse, of course, intensified into the representation of the numerous black nationalist movements that formed around the country. Their cause was fuelled by people who had lost confidence in America and believed that "the white man was an incorrigible 'devil.'

6. He was overwhelmed by King's disappointment in the church. "There can be no profound sadness where there is no deep passion. Yeah, I do enjoy the church. How should I have done otherwise? I am in a very unusual place to be the son, the grandson, and the great-grandson of the preachers. He believed that the Church as a whole did not come to the assistance of justice. His pursuit of liberty led him to smash the wrong, morally wrong, rules governing black people. He promised that his people will have accomplished their aim of freedom in Birmingham, even if their intentions at the time were mistaken, "because America 's goal is democracy.

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