Martin Luther King Strength To Love Analysis

King in his speech in order to alert the people of what the letter is really meant to say now that he has gathered rather the readers full attention of what he had to say about the true root of the matter at hand. “I am implied to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in an UnChristian world.” In this quote the Baptist minister points out that while this may not be a discussion many people wish to hear, it is one he however must give in order to remind them of that they have lost their way in terms of being true to their faith despite outsides forces such as the war and the fight for civil

King replies to a comment made by the clergymen calling him an extremist. He even will take the idea of being an extremist and turn it into a positive for the campaign saying that he was originally “disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as [he] continued to think about the matter [he] 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’” (King p 808). He uses his knowledge of religious passages to show that being an extremist is not always a bad thing.

King first builds up these analogies to gain the attention of his religious followers. He’s using Jesus to compare their ideas and convince his audience that they are extremists. Referencing Jesus connects a majority of the nation because a lot of them worshipped Jesus Christ and a lot

Dr. King uses descriptive words and metaphors to convey the emotions and things he is feeling. King is condemning the clergymen saying other religious leaders have come and joined us, then why will you not help us? He speaks of the other religious leaders helping his cause as a way to convince and urge the clergymen to join his side. King wants freedom breaking out of the metaphorical “chains” and not conforming and is thankful to everyone that has decided to join in and help him do so. “Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in the tragic attempt to live in monologue rather than dialogue” (King 354).

The sureness King presents in this quote both instills hope in the reader and allows them to relate to King’s passion. Parallelism, in the way King uses it, connects what seems like small problems to a larger issue. King says on page

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders of his time and played a crucial role in the African-American Civil Rights movement. Luther was a charismatic leader who took a firm stand against the oppressive and racist regime of the United States (US), devoting much of his life towards uniting the segregated African-American community of the US. His efforts to consolidate and harmonise the US into one country for all is reflected in many of his writings and speeches spanning his career. As a leader of his people, King took the stand to take radical measures to overcome the false promises of the sovereign government that had been addressing the issues of racial segregation through unimplemented transparent laws that did nothing to change the grim realities of the society. Hence, King’s works always had the recurring theme of the unity and strength of combined willpower.

In paragraphs 33 to 44 of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s response to “A Call for Unity,” a declaration by eight clergymen, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), he expresses that despite his love for the church, he is disappointed with its lack of action regarding the Civil Rights Movement. Through powerful, emotionally-loaded diction, syntax, and figurative language, King adopts a disheartened tone later shifts into a determined tone in order to express and reflect on his disappointment with the church’s inaction and his goals for the future. King begins this section by bluntly stating that he is “greatly disappointed” (33) with the church, though he “will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen” (33). By appealing to ethos and informing the audience of his history with the church, he indicates that he is not criticizing the church for his own sake, but for the good of the church.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong leader in the Civil Rights movement, the son and grandson of a minister, and one heck of a letter writer. As he sits in a cell of Birmingham Jail in 1963, he responds to criticism from eight white clergymen. Though this letter was intended for the judgemental and condescending men of high faith, his response touched the hearts and minds of the entire U.S. population, then, and for years to come. In his tear-jerking, mind-opening letter, King manages to completely discredit every claim made by the clergymen while keeping a polite and formal tone. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims.

“Letter from Jail” On April 16, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter to the eight clergymen while he was incarcerated. Dr. King wrote this letter to address one of the biggest issues in Birmingham, Alabama and other areas within the United States. The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” discussed the great injustices that were happening during that time towards the black community. Dr. King wanted everyone to have the same equal rights as the white community, he also went into further details about the struggles that African Americans were going through for so many years, which he felt like it could change. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, expressed his beliefs and his actions about the Human Rights Movement.

philosophizes that if we, as human beings, forgo our instincts at the service of something higher, justice will prevail. In “A Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” he asserts that there are certain permanent truths which will never evaporate. These truths will always stand firm as fundamental principles which justify what is morally right and wrong, just and unjust. King deliberates that “the yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself” (“Letter,” p. 771). Furthermore, Martin Luther King, Jr. declares that there are universal and borderless Gospels of Freedom and Justice, which resound in the natural constitution of every human person, and are uplifted, fulfilled, and dignified by the divine wisdom of

His fluency of rhetorical questions and symbolic ethical figures were the potent elements to succeed in his case. He first stated that he “was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist” (King 31). Was this not the claim that the Clergymen fervently laid upon the reason behind Martin Luther King Jr. imprisonment? King threw back a rhetorical question of relation to Jesus, a holy man in any religion of Christianity, and definitely a sanction of the followers of the bible. “Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’”

MLK’s ultimate claim is that the church is to blame for these happenings and “the judgement of God is upon the Church as never before”(276). King stated how even the people who were in the church trying to fight for justice had been looked down upon and some had been kicked out of their own churches. King’s claims were passionately presented. He relentlessly provided evidence to prove his position on the issue of injustice and also showed ample amounts of examples to solve these problems.

King was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was located and enforced in every state in the South. This was an organization for African American civil rights. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” (Page 204) King establishes that when the world opens their eyes into reality and realizes the inequality, there will be a greater problem than before. An increase in protestors, means the greater retaliation will be against the law and when there’s retaliation against the law, then people with justice are afraid.

Nonviolent resistance and realistic pacifism were more than an intellectual assent, but rather a way of life for Martin Luther King Jr. The profound dedication that King exemplifies is a testament to the power of love in the face injustice. King notes in his work Pilgrimage to Nonviolence, of the process of meticulously surveying the works of other philosophical thinkers in search of something to medicate his religious, and personal dilemma when addressing philosophical perspectives. Ghandi’s nonviolent resistance has made a lasting impact on King, which has made a tremendous influence in African American rights.

He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of