Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail

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Auliq Ice, a singer, songwriter, poet, and author, wrote, “Becoming conscious of racism does not mean you are a racist.” Martin Luther King Jr.’s purpose in writing “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, is to convince the church leaders to take action against racism. In those years racism was at its peak; the most heightened time of racial discrimination. King was determined to convince the leaders to take action and that it won’t mean they are racist. King uses metaphors and allusions in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to convince the Church leaders that taking immediate action against the discrimination and immorality against people of color, is crucial.
To begin, King uses metaphors in his letter to the church leaders to strengthen his argument and create a vivid read. King writes a few metaphors in his letter. In one of these he writes:
“When you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television…”
King compares "smothering in an air-tight cage" to the immense poverty that the African Americans are suffering. This phrase also refers to a less literal idea. The “airtight cage” is metaphorically saying that African Americans are suffering immense segregation amongst a prosperous society; they live comfortably and yet heartlessly hurt the ones different than themselves. Furthermore, King uses the metaphor of the father’s “tongue is twisted” meaning there is nothing to say to an African American daughter who wants to go to a place of white people. This metaphor shows how much the entire African American nation suffers; adults and children alike. Additionally, King writes about changing the national policy. “Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.” When King says “it is time to lift our national policy”, he speaks about lifting the immoral policies and racial injustice surrounding the nation. When King strongly asserts the “quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity”, he states that the national policy has to be changed instead of letting sink lower sink lower and lower into the racial injustice, like quicksand. “The solid rock of human dignity” refers to what King wants to accomplish, the change that he wants to be made to the society to make it a much more stable and equal one. Next, King uses allusions to reinforce and support his text.
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King writes, “It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar.” When King writes about Nebuchadnezzar, he alludes to the story in the Book of Daniel when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. Nebuchadnezzar is furious and throws them into a fiery furnace. They don’t burn and are not harmed. King alludes to this event to show that sometimes people can disobey, be punished, and still be unaffected. This is what he tries to prove to the church leaders- that he can stand up for the right thing, and even though he was put in jail, he is determined to remain unharmed. In addition, he writes another allusion about that what

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