Dr.
Martin Luther King and President Barack Obama both present compelling arguments
in favor of a shift in the nation’s condition. However, because both the
audiences of these authors/orators and the context under which they were
delivered are different, the achieved effect on the audience of both bodies of work
will also be different. King, writing from a dark jail cell in Birmingham, is
responding to a host of clergymen who had previously denounced his civil
protests in an attempt to oust the portion of the civil right movement that was
taking place in Alabama. Obama delivered “A More Perfect Union” vying for the
2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. In terms of authorial presentation,
King’s speech is more compelling because of the context under which it was
written. King’s purpose, as conveyed through his letter, is to peaceable
disagree with the charges that have been brought against him by the clergymen
of Alabama. In terms of logic President Obama’s speech makes a more profound imprint
on the reader due to the fact that his claims are supported by his own life. In
terms of emotion, King’s speech is more poignant through his usage of descriptive
language. He describes vividly the life of the average African American living
in the south in the 1960s, giving the reader a clearer sense of the motivation
behind King’s argument. All things considered, King’s argument is more
compelling.
I agree that both essays , “A More Perfect Union” by Barak Obama and “A letter From Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr., were compelling and made very relevant points. Both essays held large amounts of both credibility and emotion because they used historic events and referenced some of their thoughts from their experience. “A more Perfect Union” was compelling because Obama spoke about the cause of racial issues stemming from misunderstanding. He spoke that each demographic and race has lots of hardships that each one has to endure. He speaks about the segregation of blacks, the struggle for immigrants, and the hard ships of the middle class. This is effective because he is trying to relate to all groups. He also stirs emotion from his personal story about how well he knew the Reverend and how he had changed his life. This emotion that is stirred up gives the reader some empathy. Obama also gains credibility by talking about historical events like the Jim Crow laws, which suppressed African Americans and the court case Brown VS Board of Education.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Obama’s speech is compelling, I did not find it as moving as Martin Luther’s “A letter from Birmingham Jail” because I felt that his letter just held so much more emotion, which made it significantly more compelling. He is credible and authoritative because he was so determined and strong willed that he went to jail for what he believed in. The reader can sense his passion when you read how he fought against segregation in Birmingham and how they had been wronged by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. He said he believed in nonviolent action because that tension was needed for growth. He brings up a strong point that stirs a lot of emotion for the reader when he says “we have waited for over 340 years for our God given rights” and when he compares the racial injustice against African Americans to those against the Jews in WWII it brings up a lot of emotion and makes him just so credible in the eyes of the reader. Obama’s speech in incredibly compelling and he is very empathetic for trying to relate all the races but it is just hard to compare the hardships of the middle class to those of African Americans, which leads me to say that Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he said that we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws and that we truly need to be fighting for equality.
I agree that King's letter is more compelling, I also think it is more authoritative. Because he was locked in a cell pretty much because he's a black man standing up for what he believed then writes the letter full of emotion and passion that the reader picks up on and feels as well. Racial injustice was a much bigger problem in his time and he really suffered through it which is evident from his letter in Birmingham jail. Obama has dealt with racism and such, but to deal with it in this time compared to King's time is far less of a struggle. We do not have segregation now nor have we had that in many years Obama did not go through half the stuggle King did therefore i believe King's letter has a larger impact on the readers. They way the present the problem and talk of it are both eloquent and really grasps the readers attention on the subject and both men come about it in a compelling way bringing in their personal life to prove their point and the dialect and tone are passive not aggressive which allows the reader to sympathize with them instead of feel attacked by the circumstances they are trying to make people aware of. King is more descriptive because he has more to describe considering his situation verses Obama. King really goes into his life occurrence as Obama goes into it but mainly sticks to why we need to come together as a whole for racism to change. Both are credible to the argument because both have lived through racism, are black, and stood up for what they believe. Obama is president and King is written down in history for all that he did which makes them credible people to speak of the issue. But, i agree that King's letter is the more compelling argument.
ReplyDeleteI agree that King's "A Letter from Birmingham Jail" is more compelling than that of Barack Obama's speech. First of all, King's speech was to the clergymen who imprisoned him, which causes his letter to be of upmost importance to his cause at the time and in this argument. The civil rights cause is of far more importance than Barack Obama and his quest for the presidential nomination. Yes, the office of president is very important, but not nearly as much as a movement that affected millions of American citizens and if successful could have prevented numerous deaths. Although Obama's speech may be compelling with accounts from his own life, King's own life was prominent in his letter as well, as he was writing about how the charges pressed against him were false. So in the end, Barack Obama's argument was compelling, for the most part, but not near as influential as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter.
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