3. Authors use words to provoke, to inspire and/or to calm. King does all of these in his letter.
Which of these do you think his letter most accomplishes and why? Provide textual
support/quotes to support your response. (15 points)

Explanation:

The letter that Martin Luther King Jr. wrote while in Birmingham Jail is mostly the document that provokes the inspiration and encouragement for continuing the fight of African Americans.

At the time of the writing, he was imprisoned for his views and protests, but we see from the letter that he remains hopeful and inspiring for all the people that are joining his fight.

Some of the specific lines that radiate this inspiration are:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhereNever again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.We use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.

We see the inspiration from the facts he is giving them hope to the readers, he is explaining all the things that are on their side (freedom, time, justice, dialogue, etc) and how the time is coming from the change.

In these parts we can also see that he is calming the reader by convincing them that the change will come, that time is on their side and that justice will win.

Some more lines that express the words of calm from King are:

Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love (when talking about the betrayal of church as an institution) Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. 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." (he then gives the examples of Paul, Martin Luther, John Bunyan, Thomas Jefferson) We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism.

With this, he is trying to calm the reader, giving the previous great examples, explaining how love is always winning and how the better times are coming. He is using words such as love, neutral and freedom that provoke feelings of calmness and hope.

Finally, the line at the end that both demonstrated inspiration and provoking of the calmness the best is:

One day the South will recognize its real heroes. They will be the James Merediths, with the noble sense of purpose that enables them to face jeering and hostile mobs, and with the agonizing loneliness that characterizes the life of the pioneer. They will be old, oppressed, battered Negro women, symbolized in a seventy two year old woman in Montgomery, Alabama, who rose up with a sense of dignity and with her people decided not to ride segregated buses, and who responded with ungrammatical profundity to one who inquired about her weariness: "My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest."

He is saying they will rest, that they will be free and that they will be heroes. He is using these words to prove to the reader how there is a future for their fight, how it will all be well and how the awaited change will arrive. These words are provoking the positive reaction, they are making a person feel calm and hopeful, as well as inspired to fight for the cause that looks probable.

He discusses the problem of human destruction of nature and gives solution to prevent it.