Please consider the following questions about King's letter thoughtfully, fully and in regard to an argumentation essay in a minimum of one full paragraph each:
- Why does King establish his setting (the Birmingham Jail) and define his intended audience in the first paragraph? How does this information impact the reader and his subsequent words?
- King begins his letter with a reference to his audience as "men of genuine good will" (1), yet later criticizes those same men. Is this phrase meant in irony? What is his intention in using it, and what effect does it have on you as the reader, and further, what effect might it have on you if you were one of the "men of good will" it refers to?
- Who is King's intended audience? What evidence do you have of this, both within the text and without?
- What is King's thesis? Is it directly stated or implied?
- In argumentation, it's common-- and effective-- to acknowledge the opposing argument and the proceed to discredit it. Where does King do this? Is it effective and why?
- King cites philosophers from Jewish, Catholic and Protestant religions. He also relies heavily on appeals to authorities such as Augustine, Aquinas, Buber, Tillich, etc. Why does he make both of these choices and how do these strategies work in his argument?
- King is known for his eloquence and resonant oration-- this is also apparent in his written works. Select one quote you found moving or meaningful and analyze it.
King establishes his setting and defines his intended audience in the first paragraph because he want them the audience to know that his actions are for a good cause. He wants the audience to feel what he is going through during his jail time in the Birmingham jail. He also wants to show that his actions are non-violent and can have good results. The people that keep criticizing him are looking at his actions a different way. Like he had said, it was “outsiders coming in”. how it impacts the reader is that the reader can understand where king is coming from in terms of views of things.
ReplyDelete1.) Perhaps the reason why King wanted to establish the setting is because he wanted his readers and his critics to know that he was in jail for exercising his first amendment. He was responding to the Clergyman for stating his activities as “Unwise and Untimely” so as a response, he lets the Clergyman know that time has run out and the oppressed are tired of waiting for a freedom that never comes. The information alone leaves the reader feeling the pain and misery shared by many African Americans in during this time era.
ReplyDelete1. Why does King establish his setting (the Birmingham Jail) and define his intended audience in the first paragraph? How does this information impact the reader and his subsequent words?
ReplyDeleteBy establishing the setting in the first line of his letter, King enthralls his reader. There is something quite contradictory of writing to “fellow clergymen” from a jail cell. The reader must ask themselves; What is a man of the clergy doing sitting in a jail cell? The audience’s goal, then, is to figure out what a seemingly moral and law abiding man did to get in jail. His reasoning for performing these illegal acts must then be dire and extremely important.
1. King establishes his setting as the Birmingham Jail because this is where he wrote his letter while he was imprisoned for eight days. He defines his intended audience in the first paragraph because his letter is directly aimed for to those clergymen. Knowing the setting and the intended audience impacts the reader by informing them first thing of who this letter is directed to and from what setting it is being written in. This bit of information helps the reader get an understanding of the background of the information that is going to be given in their further reading.
ReplyDelete1)Why does King establish his setting (the Birmingham Jail) and define his intended audience in the first paragraph? How does this information impact the reader and his subsequent words?
ReplyDeleteWell first off he defines his setting in the Birmingham Jail because Birmingham is the most segregated place he was sent to. So he can describe the brutalitiy of the white community to negros or a more suited term African Americans. He also defines his audience by saying that "they are genuine good men and that there critisim is set forth." He tries to be patient with the audience and tries to establish a reasonable and effective argument. This impacts the reader itself because Dr. King is making a point while being in the most segrigated place. And also establishwhite people misconceptions.
2) King begins his letter with a reference to his audience as "men of genuine good will" (1), yet later criticizes those same men. Is this phrase meant in irony? What is his intention in using it, and what effect does it have on you as the reader, and further, what effect might it have on you if you were one of the "men of good will" it refers to?
ReplyDeleteI think so because they were the same men that got him arrested for doing, and he quotes, "A Peaceful Protest." So I can see why its ironic. It has a huge affect on me because its just prooves how mislead the clergymen were. Also if I was one of the clergymen It would have an even bigger effect on me because it points out my beliefs and completely shows how wrong i've been.
2. When King refers to his audience as “men of genuine good”, and then later in his piece criticizes them I feel like this may be a form of irony. I feel that maybe his intention in using this phrase in the beginning was to grab the clergymen. It would also make the clergymen feel as though King is not attacking them for their words against him. He makes the letter more informal and more of a discussion instead of an argument against their words. As a reader I feel as though it was somewhat confusing that he uses of “men of genuine good will” and then criticizes them later on in the letter. If I were one of those men I would feel disrespected and feel like I was being spoken down to. It would make me feel as though he was saying “men of genuine good will” as a joke or insult.
ReplyDelete3. King’s intended audience in this piece is eight white clergymen. Evidence in the text that the clergymen are his intended audience is stated right from the beginning where he states “My Dear Fellow Clergymen.” His intended audience is also stated in the background on racial segregation where it states that he wrote this letter while imprisoned. Also in text he states “I came across your recent statement calling me present activities “unwise and untimely.” He is directing this letter to the eight clergymen who made this “unwise and untimely” statement about him.
ReplyDelete3)Who is King's intended audience? What evidence do you have of this, both within the text and without?
ReplyDeleteHis intended audience are the white people in general. I believe this is the intended audience because The Clergyman never had to feel the hurt of the word "Wait" and Dr. King explains how that word affects the negro population for what they want is equallity but the word "Wait" also means "Never" to them. Which then he also states he can't wait no more.
Who is King's intended audience? What evidence do you have of this, both within the text and without? King's intended audience is the clergey men, government, and the people that are critizing him.The evidence i have of this is when he tells the clerymen that they never felt hurt because they get everything they wanted. He explains that the word "wait" affects the negro population deeply. He staes that the word "Wait" has almost always meant "Never".
ReplyDelete1. The reason king named it the Birmingham Jail is because he is in the place where he wrote it. It is aimed toward the people who put him in jail. He wants them to realize how unjust they are being toward the negro's and their families.
ReplyDelete1. The reason why Marting L. King stated his setting the "Bermingham jail" is because it was the jail that he was in when he wrote the letter. This is sufficient for the reader because it allows us to capture the settign and where everything took place. This also made me think that maybe those days spent behind cell bars gave him more inspiration to to hope and instead of civil rights movement he would be visible as a regular clergyman, whos prayers give hope for sunny days, in a sunny day!
ReplyDelete2.) I strongly disagree that this phrase was casted in the light of Irony simply because he referred to them as men of genuine good will. King clearly criticizes the men, not contradict his original statement. He believes that they are sincerely good men however, they have been manipulated by the suggestions the “Outsiders.”He wanted to show that you can’t let others alter your better judgment, this impacts the way I judge people because when you listen to people it can influence the way you view that person that’s why you have to develop your own concepts of a person. If it were me I would have to take a step back and try to think about if I let other people think for or if I seen and decided on myself
ReplyDelete4)What is King's thesis? Is it directly stated or implied?
ReplyDeleteKings thesis is that equallity cannot be gain by doing nothing or by using lethal force. He believe its gain by using peaceful direct-force. He states this because he says in his letters that " The white people don't want to negotiate at all, but when met with direct force and that all economic or public issue becomes too much to handle it leaves them with no choice." Doing sit-ins, and bus boycots caused them problem that was legal so the law cant do anything about it. Even forming parades, as long as its peaceful its legal.
3. King’s audience is the clergymen and the oppressors. In paragraph 14 he writes about how these unjust laws are made by the oppressors help them to gain a sense of superiority and leaves the oppressed filling inferior.
ReplyDeleteWhy does King establish his setting (the Birmingham Jail) and define his intended audience in the first paragraph? How does this information impact the reader and his subsequent words? King establishes his setting in the Birmingham Jail because he wanted to imform his readers that him being in jail is for a good cause. He wants the reader to feel him pain and know that justice is not going to come about wihtout struggle. He wants his readers to know that the non-violent action he is pursuing is the best way you can fight the white people. He truly believes that it will work and people will have to be patience and work with him. The way his inforamtion impact his readers is that it allows us to feel the struggle that is going at that moment. Maybe even join one of the groun=ps to stop the segregation that is going.
ReplyDelete2. I believe King tries to convey an implicit irony when he references his audience as “men of genuine good will”. He doesn’t refer to them as such and later attacks their actions as a means of offending them. He does so to show that he understands that deep down they are good people but their opinions have been marred by passiveness and the unwillingness to take action. Were I one of the “men of good will” he refers to, I would feel guilty for not doing enough in the fight for civil rights.
ReplyDelete3)Kings intended audience is his “fellow clergymen”, the people who put him in jail, and anyone else who thinks his actions were “unwise and untimely.” I believe this is his intended audience because he starts the letter off with “my dear Fellow Clergymen” also because he talks about how he got into jail so that brings me to think not only is he writing it for his fellow clergymen but to others who might read it as well.
ReplyDelete5)In argumentation, it's common-- and effective-- to acknowledge the opposing argument and the proceed to discredit it. Where does King do this? Is it effective and why?
ReplyDeleteHe does in the paragraph were he talks about Hitler and the hungarians. He says "We should never forget that everything Adolph Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the hungarian freedom fighters in hungary was "illegal". It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a jew in Hitler's Germany. This dicredits his audience because what the white people are doing he compares them to Hitler and he compares himself to the hungarians because he was helping his brothers but the white people found that illegal in some way.
4. King’s Thesis statement is found in the 2nd paragraph it’s more of an implication than direct
ReplyDeleteI think that when he stated, "men of genuine good will…” it was phrase as irony, or maybe like a challenge I guess. He did speak or said to whom it was, but yet I do believe it was meant for those who where against his actions. People who were against blacks having equal rights as whites’; those who segregated blacks and doubt in believes of liberty, where simply mock by martin L. King. His intention for this was to acknowledge those who had enslaved him in his own body but could not keep him from braking out. It does not affect me in any way but the word “proud” could simply describe of what he had accomplish. I believe every one has equals rights, an everyone should be treated the same way, after all doesn’t religion support this theory??
ReplyDelete1. The reason King establish his setting in the first paragraph was so his audience was aware that he was in jail. He also defines his intended audience in the first paragraph so that his readers know that his letter is directly aimed to the clergymen. I believe that the impact this information has on his readers is a questioning affect on the readers. Why is he in jail? It also helps the reader get an understanding of the the information that is going to be given in their further reading.
ReplyDelete2. Its very ironic because the clergy men did not have good will when they put King in jail. The way he wrote this letter strikes very hard how shows the suffering and humilation the african community has endured. He goes into detail how in the christian religion segregation is a sin and morally wrong. As a clergy man it would have opened my eyes to the unjust and de-moralizing acts that i have committed toward Marthur Luther King and The African Community.
ReplyDelete5.) In paragraphs 23 and 24 he does in a effective way by stating the problem and recognizing that it must be solved.
ReplyDeleteHis intendment audience is not only white people, but those who follow him as swell. He stated, “Those who live in the United States can never be consider an outsider anywhere within its bounds.” That to me had such an impact because I am a Latin American and segregation still is very much alive within Americas’ land. To imply that America is not made by only one race, is the agriculture and people who live here that make America who it was, is, and still remains to be.
ReplyDelete4. The Kings thesis in his letter is not in the begging, nor the middle, but actually at the end. He states, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drench communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” It’s not a direct approach, but implied.
ReplyDelete