stumbling to explain to your daughter why a new amusement park is closed to colored children. He paints a picture of the “depressing clouds of inferiority that begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness towards white people…” and the readers heart goes out to the sad eyed little girl who is too young to understand. One last effective technique employed by King is the manner in which he begins the close of his letter. In paragraph thirty-six, King states, “But even if the church does not come to the aid of justice, I have no despair about the future. I have no fear about that outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are presently understood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America.” This statement unwaveringly rings loud and clear and still inspires hope in confidence in the reader this many years later. Closing with such a statement destroys all illusion of fear and ends the letter with a confidence that makes everything the audience read shine and remain imprinted on the mind.Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a very effective letter. Through an intriguing opening, his ability to discredit his oppressor’s words and create detailed yet clear responses, effectively integrate the quotes and examples of others to help illustrate his points, his descriptive logical and emotional appeals and his strong, confident closing, King created a letter that is powerful enough to provoke thoughts inside any person that reads it....
