One Special Dream
By David
On December 1, 1955, an African American by the name of Rosa Parks was arrested and put in jail for not giving up her seat to make room for a white, even though she was there first! This was the kind of dark segregation that haunted African Americans in the 1900s. Caucasians openly were given better treatment than their black segregated counterparts. This was more than some people could stand for and bold leaders began to speak out for their civil rights. Perhaps the most prominent of all civil activists was Martin Luther King. King’s stylistic structure and elegant language used in his speeches and letters would help greatly in the fight for black civil rights.
Doctor King words his sentences in his letter from Birmingham jail such a way that it keeps the readers engaged and pondering what he is saying. Using the strategically structured sentences, King directly explains the unjust conditions. He tells us, “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.” The blunt way he talks about the racial injustice sticks like cement in the reader’s mind and gnaws at their thoughts.
He also use’s emotion to help guide the audience see the problem. “When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children.” The emotional style in which he describes the reaction of his daughter shows a clear mental image, “And you see tears welling up in her little eyes.” You don’t know his teary eyed daughter, but a child crying is enough to ignite emotion in anyone and make you feel miserable.
MLK’s constant, intense metaphors and similes provide additional help spurring the reader’s reaction. A well-developed metaphor evokes a powerful feeling in readers. Doctor King’s metaphors do just that. One such metaphor is: “twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society” He could just say that his fellow brothers are suffering but if he adds a metaphor like that it really adds a stylistic punch to what he is conveying to readers. “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair,” King knows that he can add more depth to what he is saying and with that metaphor he adds gravity to something that can’t be explained by just saying, “my patience has run out.”
A few allusions scattered throughout his letter help breakup King’s metaphors and statements, also adding additional stylistic elements. In one allusion he compares what is happening to his race to what Hitler did to the Jews, saying the things Hitler did was “Legal” and that the people hiding Jews from him were breaking the law. Almost everyone knows what Hitler did and when King compares Hitler to what is happening, it really strikes one as horrendously bad and strategically puts the injustice into perspective.
Now, Rosa Parks might have been arrested and jailed but through all of it she didn’t lose her spirit of wanting to be free from the heavy shackles of segregation. Neither did Martin King and that heart and soul was reflected in his letter. He wanted freedom and eventually his “dream” was ever so slowly realized by a jaundiced society. From the wording to the figurative language, Martin Luther’s letter will be forever remembered in annals of the fight for civil rights.
Doctor King words his sentences in his letter from Birmingham jail such a way that it keeps the readers engaged and pondering what he is saying. Using the strategically structured sentences, King directly explains the unjust conditions. He tells us, “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of police brutality is known in every section of this country. Its unjust treatment of Negroes in the courts is a notorious reality.” The blunt way he talks about the racial injustice sticks like cement in the reader’s mind and gnaws at their thoughts.
He also use’s emotion to help guide the audience see the problem. “When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children.” The emotional style in which he describes the reaction of his daughter shows a clear mental image, “And you see tears welling up in her little eyes.” You don’t know his teary eyed daughter, but a child crying is enough to ignite emotion in anyone and make you feel miserable.
MLK’s constant, intense metaphors and similes provide additional help spurring the reader’s reaction. A well-developed metaphor evokes a powerful feeling in readers. Doctor King’s metaphors do just that. One such metaphor is: “twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society” He could just say that his fellow brothers are suffering but if he adds a metaphor like that it really adds a stylistic punch to what he is conveying to readers. “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair,” King knows that he can add more depth to what he is saying and with that metaphor he adds gravity to something that can’t be explained by just saying, “my patience has run out.”
A few allusions scattered throughout his letter help breakup King’s metaphors and statements, also adding additional stylistic elements. In one allusion he compares what is happening to his race to what Hitler did to the Jews, saying the things Hitler did was “Legal” and that the people hiding Jews from him were breaking the law. Almost everyone knows what Hitler did and when King compares Hitler to what is happening, it really strikes one as horrendously bad and strategically puts the injustice into perspective.
Now, Rosa Parks might have been arrested and jailed but through all of it she didn’t lose her spirit of wanting to be free from the heavy shackles of segregation. Neither did Martin King and that heart and soul was reflected in his letter. He wanted freedom and eventually his “dream” was ever so slowly realized by a jaundiced society. From the wording to the figurative language, Martin Luther’s letter will be forever remembered in annals of the fight for civil rights.