Analysis Essay of "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King.
On April 16 1963, in the town of Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King was thrown in jail for participating and organizing a non-violent protest in the city streets against segregation. During King's stay in the Birmingham jail, the eight clergymen from Alabama published a statement in the newspapers condemning Kings actions with hope to suppress the demonstrations. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is King's response to these accusations. Written during Kings stay in the jail of Birmingham, King uses realistic examples, emotion, and an appeal to logic to strengthen his thesis and create a clear definition between whites and blacks as the segregator and the segregated. King's skill for expressing his ideas create a powerful and effective literary piece that portray the injustices he sees in his society.
King's time in jail only lead to the reinforcement of his ideas and fueled the fire that is his equal rights campaign. While King says he previously had never taken the time to respond to his critics, his confinement in his jail cell allowed him a opportunity to strike back at his opponents. The first seven pages of King's letter served as more than a response to the criticism he had received from the eight clergymen of Alabama, but as an appeal to the emotion and logic of the white moderate.
King compares the plight of the African Americans segregation with the holiness of the 1960's religions. King relates himself to God by connecting his arrest to the crucifixion of Jesus for his "Unique God Consciousness and never ceasing devotion." By comparing himself to someone as divine as Jesus, King portrays that he is the messenger of his people. King, like Jesus, was condemned because he was the minority. King's effort to bring these issues to light leaves the reader feeling a grandeur of injustice. King's use of this comparison made his argument more powerful by using...