In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. creates a ringing response to a statement by some Alabama clergymen opposing his actions in Birmingham, Alabama. The beginning explanation of why King is in Birmingham later becomes the background to an essay justifying King's actions during the civil rights movement and explaining the wrongfulness of racial segregation. Throughout the essay, King uses several literary tools which create a powerful tone to accompany his strong opinions. He uses comparisons to help the reader understand not only the historical reasons why segregation is wrong, but the emotional effects that it has on everyone who experiences it. King also uses realistic examples to show the reader how segregation damages one's character. His word choice creates a clear explanation that the relationship between whites and blacks is segregator and segregated. As shown in this piece, King's skill for expressing his ideas in writing has caused him to be considered one of America's greatest communicators.
King begins by stating the general purpose of his letter by saying, “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every Southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights” (King). King starts out with this so he can show his credibility. In the clergymen’s letter to King, the clergymen use the phrase “outsider” to describe King. They use it in a term to make him feel unwelcome as well as question his reason for even being in the state of Alabama. The first set of paragraphs, King addresses all the points made by the clergymen, specifically the term “outsider.” King goes to say, “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere” and that, “Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its...