Allusions In Letter From Birmingham Jail

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” (1963), he condemns the church for not taking a stand along the protesters as they struggle for freedom. Kinf first enlightens the audience of their troubles using imagery and juxtapositions; he then goes on to redefine the term “hero” using relatable examples and Biblical allusions. In this letter, Dr. King uses a reasonable, but frustrated tone to further illustrate his purpose, which is to appear rational and understanding of the Church’s current stance on the protests, but to argue why the protests are needed in order to gain their support. His audience consists of the clergymen, as Martin Luther King Jr. realizes that the Church and religion holds the ultimate authority on moral

King felt the church was sending an inappropriate message when they described the heinous actions of the police against blacks as “heroic”, so he corrects the clergymen by redefining the term. He states that a hero is an individual who will “willingly go to jail for conscience’s sake [and …] stand up for the best in the American dream”. Dr. King aligns his definition to the actions of his protesters, essentially making them the heroes. By standing up for the American dream of equality, he makes the protesters’ cause for protesting justified, which helps him to further disillusionize the police as heroes in the clergymen's’ eyes. He then goes a step further, arguing that, because his protesters will endure any punishment without complaint or retaliation for their beliefs, their struggles, actions, and ideas are much like that of the Christian martyr Daniel, who allowed himself to be thrown in a lion’s den so he could follow his beliefs. Eliciting to the clergymen’s desire to follow in the footsteps of their heroes, the Christian martyrs, Dr. King creates an irrefutable argument that his nonviolent protesters are the real heroes. He develops this idea when he said, “They will be old, oppressed, battered, Negro women, symbolized in a seventy- two- year- old woman”. By giving a common face to his cause, Dr. King presents the argument that his protests do not represent a few blacks, but an entire ethnic group. Dr. King purposefully made his protesters easily identifiable to show a lack of fear for individuals who may try to hurt them and their willingness to stand up for what they believe in. In doing all of this, Dr. King places all of his followers and himself onto the same pedestal, and worthy of the same praise, as the Christian martyrs. And, as these martyrs are considered to be heroes for their religion, Dr. King proves that, by this definition, the protesters are the real heroes of