Directions: martin luther king, jr.’s “letter from birmingham jail” includes many examples of figurative language meant to persuade people to take action. read the lines from the letter and identify one type of figurative language (some excerpts may contain more than one), its meaning, its effect on mood and tone, and its effect on audience. an example has been completed for you. then, answer the analysis question.
example:
this movement is nourished by the contemporary frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination.
type of figurative language: personification
meaning of figurative language: it means the movement grows because its fed by people’s frustration with racial discrimination
effect on tone and mood: it creates a factual tone and an urgent mood.
effect on audience: audience will see the civil rights movement as a living thing, which would make it more meaningful.
…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 the tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky…
type of figurative language:
meaning of figurative language:
effect on tone and mood:
effect on audience:
like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
type of figurative language:
meaning of figurative language:
effect on tone and mood:
effect on audience:
over and over again i have found myself asking: "who worships here? who is their god? where were their voices when the lips of governor barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? where were their voices of support when tired, bruised, and weary negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest? "
type of figurative language:
meaning of figurative language:
effect on tone and mood:
effect on audience:
in those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.
type of figurative language:
meaning of figurative language:
effect on tone and mood:
effect on audience:
it was "illegal" to aid and comfort a jew in hitler's germany. but i am sure that, if i had lived in germany during that time, i would have aided and comforted my jewish brothers even though it was illegal.
type of figurative language:
meaning of figurative language:
effect on tone and mood:
effect on audience:

This movement is nourished by the contemporary frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination.

●Type of figurative language: Personification.

●Meaning of figurative language: It means the movement grows because its fed by people’s frustration with racial discrimination.

●Effect on tone and mood: It creates a factual tone and an urgent mood.

●Effect on audience: Audience will see the civil rights movement as a living thing, which would make it more meaningful.

1. Metaphor

2. Simile

3. Alliteration

4. Hyperbole

5. Simile

Explanation:

Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a letter written by Martin Lither King Jr. in 1963. The text is related what black people situation; specifically it promotes the idea of searching liberty and equality no matter color, but through a pacific and nonviolent movement of resistance.  

1. “…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 the tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky…”

Type of figurative language: Metaphor  

Meaning of figurative language: The figurative language is working as an example of a main sentence; thus, through the comparison the message is send more efficiently.  

Effect on tone and mood: It links the speaker’s mood with the listener’s, thereby favouring emphatic connexion.

Effect on audience: Audience will be commoved and probably will put more attention to the speech.  

2. Like a boil that can never be cured as long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its pus-flowing ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must likewise be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

Type of figurative language: Simile

Meaning of figurative language: Thanks to the comparison made between a boil and the injustice that black people experiment in their daily life the bad situation is mood is understandable.  

Effect on tone and mood: It creates a reflexive tone that shows the importance of analysing the situation.

Effect on audience: Simile allows the audience to understand better how it feels to be victim of injustices and discrimination.

3. Over and over again I have found myself asking: "Who worships here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were their voices of support when tired, bruised, and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?"

Type of figurative language: Alliteration  

Meaning of figurative language: It means people have never asked themselves about what they act like they do.  

Effect on tone and mood: It creates a reflexive tone that promotes repentance.  

Effect on audience: Due to the repetition of the same question pattern, the audience can consider different things/situations as results of one situation: discrimination.

4. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

Type of figurative language: Hyperbole

Meaning of figurative language: It means that the ideology shared by the church was fundamental to the construction of a discriminatory society.  

Effect on tone and mood: The mood of the speech can change to a serious one due to the direct accusation.

Effect on audience: The audience could feel uncomfortable or guilty about their beliefs and actions; or, in the other hand, would agree.

5. It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany. But I am sure that, if I had lived in Germany during that time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal.

Type of figurative language: Simile

Meaning of figurative language: It means that the speaker is benevolent no matter what.

Effect on tone and mood: The speech becomes empathetic and positive.

Effect on audience: The audience finds hope in human race and probably ask themselves about what have been they doing during the life and reflex about all the pretexts that all of us can have at the moment of helping anyone needed.  

the speech this question is referring to is president kennedy's special message to the congress on urgent national needs, may 25, 1961

kennedy responds in a very direct and concrete way to those thinking that communism is a positive system:

"yet their aggression is more often concealed than open. they have fired no missiles; and their troops are seldom seen. they send arms, agitators, aid, technicians and propaganda to every troubled area. but where fighting is required, it is usually done by others--by guerrillas striking at night, by assassins striking alone--assassins who have taken the lives of four thousand civil officers in the last twelve months in vietnam alone--by subversives and saboteurs and insurrectionists, who in some cases control whole areas inside of independent nations." (kennedy)

president kennedy presents communism as cowardly, as a hidden and treacherous weapon that strikes from the shadows like thieves, he represents the system as not even being capable of showing and open and overt attack or confrontation. to finish up the response, he expresses that the system attacks even a country's idependence and freedom.