Repetition In King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” repetition is used numerous times, the purpose is to make certain words or phrases stand out to the reader. Repetition is the action of repeating something that has already been said or written. King repeats the words “when you” in the following statement, “when you have seen vicious mobs… when you have seen hate filled policemen…when you see the vast majority of you twenty million Negro brothers smothering… when you suddenly find your suddenly find your tongue twisted… when you have to concoct an answer… when you take a cross-country drive… when you are humiliated… when you are harried by day and haunted by night… when you are forever fighting… -then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait” (323). King has not …show more content…
This emphasizes King’s point that African Americans have waited long enough for their constitutional and God-given rights. King repeats the word “who” in the following statement, “the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace… who constantly says…who paternalistically believes… who lives by a mythical concept and who constantly advices the Negro to wait” (322). The white moderate has disappointed King because they are more devoted to “order” than to justice. He hoped that they would fight against segregation, and he hoped that they would stand up for what is right. King draws attention to the pronoun “who” to show his frustration with the white moderate. King comes to a point where he calls himself an extremists, “was not Jesus and extremists for love…was not Amos an extremists for justice… was not Paul an extremists for the Christian gospel…was not Martin Luther an extremists…and John Bunyan…and Abraham Lincoln…and Thomas Jefferson…so the is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for