Rhetorical Analysis Of Mlk Letter From Birmingham Jail

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"Justice too long delayed is justice denied." “Letter From Birmingham Jail” was written to religious authorities. MLK is writing this letter to explain his reason for civil disobedience. He justifies his acts by explaining how the oppressed can not stay oppressed. Martin Luther King incorporates a medley of syntax and figurative language in order to justify the non-violent protests against racism. MLK uses anaphora and parallelism in order to express the need for civil disobedience. In his letter Martin Luther King Jr acknowledges how "It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city's white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative." MLK is trying to express …show more content…
It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” This apostrophe helps MLK show segregation from the African American’s point of view, by explaining how segregation damages them as people and makes them feel inferior while the caucasian people feel superior. By using this apostrophe MLK is able to bring guilt out of his audience since he is using the feelings of the African Americans to justify their acts of civil disobedience. MLK also uses imagery in order to help bring the letter to life by painting pictures in the reader’s minds. “For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." Here MLK is using sound imagery; he is using the loud piercing sound, almost like an alarm bell, to the word “wait.” He is conveying how the word “wait” is painful to hear for African Americans since they have been waiting and change still hasn’t come. MLK is using this sound image in order to show that there will be no more waiting and it is time for them to fight back. In order to create pathos these forms of figurative language are crucial since they

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