Escape from Alcatraz

So where was the light coming from? My eyelids felt too heavy to keep open anymore. My eyes fluttered open for the last time to see a blinding light…then darkness. Nicole “It’s been a week since she has gone missing and they still haven’t found her,” I told Nathaniel. We are standing in the hallway beside the math classroom. “I know, but there is nothing we can do about it.…

Theresa Magana Ms. Nauls-Jones AP English 3 26 November 2015 A Rhetorical Analysis of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s. Letter from a Birmingham Jail Respected African American civil rights leader and Baptist minister, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his letter, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, addresses the issue of social injustice associated with segregation. Dr. King’s purpose is to justify the need of non-violent direct action, the immorality of un-just laws, as well as the increasing bloodshed…

The Fault Within “The Birthmark,” a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is stated that imperfection is, “…liability to sin, sorrow, death, and decay…” (Hawthorne 2). The short story is about a scientist, Aylmer, who strives to make his wife, Georgiana, perfect by performing scientific experiments to remove her one imperfection, a birthmark. The result is kind of like taking a picture; it is a perfect representation of a moment in time, but all the life is gone. Georgiana dies as a result of…

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a letter written by Dr. King in 1963, that was addressed to several clergymen who had written an open letter criticizing the actions of Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during their protests in Birmingham. Dr. King tells the clergymen that he was unhappy about their statements and criticisms, and that he wishes to address their concerns. Dr. King was arrested and sent to jail for protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King was…

1. In the first few paragraphs of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he specifically addresses the local clergymen, lays out his purpose for the letter, and creates an authoritative and well-organized tone. He makes his goal of wanting to prove he does belong in Birmingham to create racial equality clear by stating, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere” (800). Throughout this entire article King addresses the local clergymen and the white moderates;…

putting together non-violent protests to combat against racial inequality. King was mostly active throughout the 1950s into the 1960s until his assassination in 1968. He was known for his “I Have a Dream” speech, and was also the author of the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, in which he refutes against the white clergymen who say that his non-violent protests were “unwise and untimely.” One of the reasons that he had so much success was because he effectively appealed emotionally to the…

What would one expect from a man with a personality like Goodman Brown? Authors often use biblical references, leaving the reader to wonder whether all events were reality or a dream. From this short story, we enter a supernatural world full of challenges the protagonist must overcome. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, he uses symbolism and metaphors to represent the ideas and beliefs portrayed in the story. As one is introduced to Goodman’s wife in the first paragraphs of the tale, we…

Socrates and King connect on another way with how both of them created tension among the people to receive answers in return. Socrates questioned the way individuals thought so that individuals could escape the lies they were believing. King questioned the need for segregation within cities when, in fact, there was a law that stated that segregation was deemed illegal. Despite the connections to Socrates, King clarifies a significant point in the beginning…

In the short stories, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. and “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, both of their circumstances were the same, which was to make unjust laws just. I do believe that both writers were justified in their actions because they both were doing something for the people. I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. had more justification than Thoreau did because if Thoreau had more justification what he was protesting for would have stopped all of…

King's use of ethos and allusion in "Letter From Birmingham Jail" proves effective as a method of advocating for the credibility of his cause and civil disobedience. King writes, "Isn't this like condemning Socrates because he's unswerving commitment to the truth and his philosophical delvings precipitated the misguided popular mind to make him drink the hemlock," (paragraph 18, line 3). In writing this, King uses allusion to plead his case for the peaceful protests and their effectiveness.…