Terry Pruyne's Classes
  • Daily Agenda
  • Introduction
    • 10R: INTRODUCTION
  • The Personal Project
    • Checklist for Personal Project
    • Personal Project information Packet
    • Global Contexts >
      • Examples for the Global Context Question
    • Annotated Bibliography: Personal Project >
      • Example of an Annotated Bibliogrpahy
    • The Presentation: Personal Project
  • What is Civil Disobedience?
    • Pathos, Ethos, and Logos >
      • Pathos, Ethos, and Logos in Leter from Birmingham Jail
    • MLK: Letter from Birmingham Jail >
      • Question for "Letter From Birmingham Jail"
    • Literary Elements in "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
    • Thoreau: Where I Live and What I Live For
  • Short Story Unit
    • Science Fiction >
      • Harrison Bergeron >
        • Harrison Bergeron analysis
      • A Sound of Thunder >
        • "Sound of Thunder" analysis
      • All Summer in a Day
    • Short Story Unit: Part II >
      • Lather Research
      • Sniper: Research
      • Sniper Research Paper
    • Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie
  • This I Believe
    • This I Believe: Writing Your Personal Belief
    • This I Believe: Guidelines to Write
    • This I Believe: Philosophy of Life in Songs
    • Thoreau: Where I Live and What I Live For
  • Antigone
    • Antigone: Intro Questions
    • Letter to an Administrator >
      • Letter to an Administrator: sample letter
  • Maus
    • Maus: Chapter 1 Questions
    • Maus: Chapter 2 Questions
    • Maus: Chapter 3 Questions
    • Maus: Chapter 4 Questions
    • Maus: Chapter 5 Questions
    • Maus: Chapter 6 Questions
    • Maus: Understanding Graphic Novels >
      • Maus: Seven Types of Comic Panels
      • Maus: six Types of Transitions
      • Maus: What is Inference
      • Maus: Videos
      • Comic Book Drawings
    • Maus Project >
      • graphic novel project: Spongebob
      • graphic novel project: A Blade in the Night
      • graphic novel project: example
      • Grading the Maus Project
  • Of Mice and Men
    • Of Mice and Men: Introduction
    • Of Mice and Men >
      • Of Mice & Men: The American Dream
      • Themes in Of Mice and Men >
        • Social Consciousness
        • Lonliness in Of Mice and Men
        • The American Dream
      • Literary Elements in Of Mice and Men
      • Chapter Questions
      • Texas Uses Lenny for Execution Role Model
      • Of Mice and Men: You are a Lawyer
      • Documents: Of Mice and Men
      • courtroom
      • Evidence to Convict George
      • Evidence to Defend George
  • MLA Page Set up and Other Important Info and Links
    • Concession and Refutation
  • Poetry
    • Poetry Terms
    • Poetry: The Wind
    • Poetry: Ex-Basketball Player
    • Poetry: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?
    • Poetry: The Whipping >
      • Point of View
      • The Whipping Resources
    • Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening >
      • Frost
    • All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
  • Into the Wild
    • Into the Wild: Why a Road Trip
    • Henry David Thoreau >
      • Thoreau Into the Wild Assignment
      • Thoreau in Into the Wild
      • Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College
    • Questions: Into the Wild (Chapters 1-6) >
      • Happiness
      • Aftermath of Into the Wild
  • MLA STYLE EXAMPLE PAPER
  • Help for Passing the Common Core Exam
    • Help for Part I of the New York State Common Core Exam
    • Help for Part II of the New York State Common Core Exam >
      • First Organizer for Part II
      • Second Organizer for Part II
      • Concession and Refutation
    • Help for Part III of the New York State Common Core Exam
    • Literary Terms: Short Definitions for the Commonly Used on New York State Exams
    • Mr. Ruth's Study Guide
  • RHETORIC & EVIDENCE-BASED CLAIMS
    • Political Cartoons
  • Additional Readings
    • Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehreneich
  • Literary Devices Through the Rolling Stones
  • Creating a Brochure
  • 10H: INTRODUCTION
  • Literary Elements
    • Literary Terms: Characterization
    • Literary Terms: Allusion
    • Literary Terms: Theme
    • Literary Elements: Imagery
    • Literary Terms: Conflict
    • Literary Terms: Irony
  • Documenting Sources (Works Cited)

Questions for "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

1. Martin Luther King writes as a member of several communities, some overlapping, some in conflict. What are they? Focusing on two or three, explain how he defines himself within each?

2. What is the meaning of ekklesia? What does King mean when he invokes "the true ekklesia"?

3. How does King balance the twin appeals to religion and patriotism throughout "Letter from Birmingham Jail"/ Do you think he puts more emphasis on religion or patriotism? Why do you think he makes this choice?

4. In the later 1960s, Alice Walker wrote an essay titled "The Civil Rights Movement What good Was It?" How could you answer her question today? What good do you believe has resulted from the civil rights movement?

5. What is King's tone in the opening paragraph? How might you make an argument for its being ironic?

6. How do King's allusions to biblical figures and events appeal to both ethos and pathos?

7. Why does King go into such detail to explain the basic principles and the process of the nonviolent protest movement?

8. In the long sentence in paragraph 14 (beginning with "But when you have seen"), why does King arrange the "when" clauses in the order that he does? Try repositioning them, and then discuss the difference in effect.

9. Why does King wait until paragraph 45 to address the alleged commendable behavior of the Birmingham police in "preventing violence"?

10. King uses repetition of single words or phrases, of sentence structures, and of sounds. Focus on a passage of one or more paragraphs, discuss the effect of this use of repetition.





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