ipl-logo

Letter From Birmingham Jail And Tim O Brien: An Analysis

918 Words4 Pages

What is courage? The dictionary defines it as, “the ability to do something that frightens one”. But the belief that someone is doing something to frighten another seems inaccurate. We’ve all grown up knowing courage as an intangible fire that only comes from within and it helps guide you when you’re feeling doubtful or scared. This type of true courage is displayed by Piggy from the novel, Lord of the Flies, Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail and Tim O'Brien in the short story, On the Rainy River. Whether it’s standing up for equal rights or laying down your life, courage is finding all your bravery and unleashing it on any challenge that steps in your way. In the novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph represents courage in …show more content…

wrote a very famous letter while imprisoned at Birmingham Jail called, Letter from Birmingham Jail. It took a lot of courage to write a letter like this because in those days, not many people would hesitate to kill him for his statements. He responds to a group of clergymen who accuse he and his followers of being outsiders, reckless and inciting violence. King’s letter is carefully constructed to capture the suffering of the community of people he represented. Within his letter he writes, “But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’". Here King uses pathos to build his ethos, he places himself among Jesus Christ which builds his ethos and since the initial letter writers were clergymen, it connects to pathos. That is just one of the many effective passages from King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. This shows a lot of courage because most people choose to fight fire with fire but he chooses to fight hatred with love. This took a lot of courage because many people of the black community wanted to riot and attack the racists and the white community already was against him. Given that knowledge, there was a lot of pressure on King to make

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Letters From Birmingham Jail

    225 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the essay “Letters from Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King, there were several values that he expounded on. Martin Luther King were willing to give his life for what he believe in. Two values were justice and freedom of rights. Martin Luther King provides a moral reason why he went to Birmingham. He went to battle and fight “injustice.”

    Read More

  • Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

    499 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Martin Luther King’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, King, responds to a complaint that he had received from his fellow Clergymen. The purpose of king’s writing is to clear up any confusion there was on King’s involvement, and how the situation was being handled. Dr. King explains through his writing that the city of Birmingham, Alabama has committed numerous unjust acts against the black community. King Also explains the reason for his involvement is simply because he was invited to help an affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of witch King was president. King also makes it a point to clear up a few areas of confusion, one of which being how the Birmingham police handled the situation.

    Read More

  • Ethos In Letter From Birmingham Jail

    514 Words  | 3 Pages

    King responded to their accusations by writing a ”Letter from Birmingham Jail”. King begins his letter using ethos to establish his credentials and backs up his actions while he continues to express his views on civil rights issues. King’s letter opens with a respectful tone by addressing the white clergymen as “My Dear Fellow Clergymen” (King 738). He uses his salutation to attempt to embrace and make

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham

    507 Words  | 3 Pages

    In King’s letter from Birmingham, he concludes his 50 paragraph letter by using specific rhetorical strategies in order to connect himself to the clergymen to whom he writes by shifting his tone from the disturbed and excited writing in the rest of the letter to one that is calm and composed toward his current situation in jail, and also by using more positive imagery and language. His attitude immediately changes in these closing three paragraphs in an attempt to assure the clergymen that he is reasonable in all his assertions, even asking for forgiveness for any over- or understated claims, apologizing for ever straying from the path of truth and patience, and he also asks “God to forgive [him]” (para. 49). After this last sentence of paragraph

    Read More

  • Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

    479 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his letter he mentions how ministers have said, "Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern. " The Christian church classified the African American movement for freedom as merely a social issue and King disproved that. In his letter he wrote, "…I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. " The mistreatment of people is morally wrong, and the church has always been about goodness, but they have decided to turn a blind eye. By discrediting an established system, he has put forth the idea that not everything is set in stone.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Letter From Birmingham Jail

    1277 Words  | 6 Pages

    Kings “letter,” you have to understand who Dr. King is addressing. The audience he is addressing is not only the clergymen the audience is universal. It seems obvious to say that “Letter from Birmingham Jail” concerns itself with race. While Dr. King says as fact that all races are equal, he draws attention to the separation between races. Instead, what he preaches is connection between all humans, regardless of race.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Letter From Birmingham Jail

    648 Words  | 3 Pages

    The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was written by the African American hero Dr. Martin Luther King in Birmingham back in 1963, addressing the issues that the African Americans faced back in that time. Dr. King responded to criticism that was made by clergymen about calling Dr. King activities as “Unwise and Untimely”. Dr. King don’t usually respond to criticism like that but he wanted to give a good answer to these men in a part of his letter from” Birmingham Jail”. They described Dr. King as an outsider who is only there to cause trouble which Dr. Martin Luther King backs their criticisms that he was the President of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) . As he was invented by SCLC to “Engage in a nonviolent direct-action program” and

    Read More

  • Letter From Birmingham Jail Sparknotes

    652 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, King spoke of many injustices in his letter. One was the clergymen expecting African-Americans to wait for fair treatment and equal rights. Not only were openly racist members of society opposing equal rights

    Read More

  • True Courage In To Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee

    487 Words  | 2 Pages

    Courage can be defined in many ways, but for the most part, courage is taking a stand and taking challenges. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main character Scout and her older brother Jem face the difficulties of growing up while living in a small southern town in the 1930s. They deal with discrimination from their racist community due to the fact their father, Atticus, is defending a black man, Tom Robinson, in court. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses Atticus to show true courage is standing up for what is right even when it is difficult. One way Atticus proves what courage is, is when he is explaining to Jem why he made him read to Mrs. Dubose as a punishment.

    Read More

  • Letter From Birmingham Jail Thesis

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    Letter from Birmingham Jail The 1960’s are commonly associated with terms like “hippie” and “flower child”. But while these terms definitely illustrate the 1960s, they depict the more iconic aspect of it. In actuality, the 1960’s were mainly defined by the struggle for civil rights, dominated by one of the most well-known and charismatic activists, Martin Luther King Jr. King, being an exceptionally gifted speaker, led many to practice a non-violent approach in the conquest for African American Civil Rights.

    Read More

  • Essay On Letter From Birmingham Jail

    1285 Words  | 6 Pages

    The 1960’s was an era of time that can be defined by change and milestones. From the Civil Rights protests to the assassination of a beloved leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, many lives were greatly affected. In America, the 1960’s ended on a good note when the United States won the Space Race. However, in the beginning of the 1960’s, people were being stoned for trying to fight for their basic rights.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Letter From Birmingham Jail And The Perils Of Indifference

    631 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine living in a society in which justice isn’t served. Being arrested for protesting, just on helping other citizens in America get the rights that they deserve. In Martin Luther King’s speech “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “The Perils of Indifference” by Elie Wiesel, Dr. King is the most effective in motivating individuals of America to support him in his efforts against injustice or indifference. One of the many rhetorical devices Dr.King uses was parallelism, in which he organized and pointed out his ideas to the audience. In the letter, Dr. King stated “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In Letter From Birmingham Jail

    688 Words  | 3 Pages

    In King’s letter, he states, “We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” Funny thing is he had lots of time to think about and write this letter. He wanted this letter to encourage and bring up a people that will start a revolution. He needed something, that special something, that would ignite the fire that had somehow died out. His Letter from Birmingham Jail was the match.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Atticus's Parenting Styles In To Kill A Mockingbird '

    919 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, there are a lot of different scenarios of courage. Atticus tells Jem, “to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is man with a gun in his hand.” I would say courage is defined by having loyalty towards everyone and being able to stand up for yourself in the book. Atticus FInch best exemplifies courage in the book. Atticus takes crap from everyone from defending Tom Robinson.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Courage By John Kumalo

    351 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is courage? Courage is to do something regardless of it’s consequences, simply because it is right. However, courage is needed to grow as a human being, without courage how would a person be able to pursue their dreams? For example, in this quote, “ Therefore let us sell our labor for what it is worth, he says. And if industry cannot buy our labour, let that industry die.

    Read More

More about Letter From Birmingham Jail And Tim O Brien: An Analysis

Open Document