Letter To Birmingham Jail

While Martin Luther King Jr. was imprisoned in Birmingham Jail King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King responds to the eight clergymen about the injustice and problems in society that he and his race face. He also tells the clergymen about non-violent direct action and how he and his people have waited too long by saying “Justice too long delayed is justice denied” (par. 11), and that action must be taken in order for them to fight for their goal of racial equality and instill peace in society once more. In the letter “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King also says, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (par. 4), because if there is unjust behavior anywhere, others may think that

12). By this he means that if a law is going to be unjust it should not even be a law because it is not fair as laws should always be. For example King says “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God” (par. 13). King says this so he can appeal to the nature of the clergyman and help them see the error of their ways. He also says this so that he can tell them that these laws that are placed upon him and his people are unjust laws that do not comply with the law of God which also contradict the teachings of the clergymen. Another example that further develops the quote “‘An unjust law is no law is no law at all”’ is when King says “So segregation is not politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, but it is morally wrong and sinful” (par. 13). When King says this, he is implying that if segregation is sinful and wrong it should not even be a law and it should not even be supported by the clergymen as they are supposedly men of

For example in this quote “It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide” (par. 11) , King uses a metaphor. By using a metaphor King further develops the quote “Justice too long delayed is justice denied” . In this quote, King uses a metaphor to compare the word “wait” to a tranquilizing drug that suppresses him and his people for a moment. King also uses pathos to further develop the quote “An unjust law is no law at all”.For example when King says “Throughout the state of Alabama all types of conniving methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters” (par. 13). King uses Pathos in this quote to show how unjust the laws that are being place on the Negro community are. Lastly King uses a metaphor to further develop the quote “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere”. For example in this quote “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny” (par. 4), King uses a metaphor because he is comparing our lives to a thread in a garment of destiny due to the fact that our future depends on all of us a one to make choices that will either help us prosper or