Letter to Birmingham and Claude (Essay Sample)

Literature comparison essay
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Martin Luther king junior in his Letter to Birmingham and Claude in his poem If We Must Die both argue out about the cases of the oppressed in the society. In Luther’s letter we see the plight of the oppressed where the Negros being segregated in the society and even being jailed like him without doing any injustice. In Claude’s poem we see the see the plight of the oppressed when the poor in the society are hunted and penned down. Luther in his letter shows empathy in that he feels what his fellow blacks are going through in the society while Claude in his poem feels sympathy for those mocked in the society too. Luther encourages action on behalf of the oppressed by invoking for non violent demonstrations to go on until the rights of the blacks are upheld. Claude too in his poem is encourages action by urging his fellow kinsmen to show bravery when meeting the common foe and defying the monsters in his poem. Literature is political in the sense that the piece of literature portrays some elements of politics emerging as one of the themes. Like in Luther’s letter he addresses the destabilized and racist political state of the U.S.
Letter from Birmingham is a letter written by Martin Luther king Junior during his time in Birmingham jail. He was accused wrongfully of inciting the black Americans to peaceful demonstrations. In his letter he writes of the broken promises, hatred and segregation that the black American community is facing in its existence in U.S. he addresses his letter to his fellow blacks not to give up on the quest of perusing their justice for equal rights. In his letter he uses the literary terms like allegory when he symbolically calls the white man ‘devil’. He is sarcastic in his claim when he writes that the white man calls their peaceful demonstration ‘unwise and untimely’. He also uses irony when he refers to what Hitler did was ‘legal’ and what the Hungarian soldiers did was ‘illegal’, this was to set the irony of him and other black activists being imprisoned. Another literary term he uses often is Biblical referencing as we see him quoting the bible everywhere in his letter, like when he wrote ‘Thus saith the lord’.
From the critical essay we are talking of the plight of the oppressed. In this society the oppressed are the black Americans. They are imprisoned wrongfully like he was. They are denied the chance of expressing their rights. In his letter they had tried all the means to express their concerns but all in vain. He writes that they went through all the stages of bringing about their concerns but all ended on deaf ears; they found the facts, held negotiations, did self-purification and ended up with direct action. They were given empty promises. In his letter he says that they were not given what was promised to them, that is equal rights as the white Americans. The black American community was unfairly judged as evident in Luther’s letter. What do you say of a person who is in jail without committing any crime? This is evident of the kind of treatment the black Americans received. Another oppression the black were facing in the community is opposition and rejection from almost all the white Americans. In his letter he says that when he started the movement to peruse for equal rights, he expected support from the white priests and even rabbis but to his surprise they were actually on the front line to oppose him despite them being ‘men of God’ as he puts it.
If we must Die is a poem written by Claude McKay to address the issues of oppression to the poor in the society. Claude in his poem talks of how the poor in the society are degraded and looked down upon but to fight all these, they need to take action for themselves and expect no one else to do it on their behalf. Despite all the resilience they will face they ought to stand firm in their quest for equal treatment in the society. Claude in his poem makes use of several literary works; he uses metaphor when he refers to those oppressing the poor as the ‘hungry dogs’. He also uses irony when he refers to them meeting the ‘common foe’ which may mean the rich in the society. It is clear that the rich are not ‘common’ as he put it in his poem. There is use of allegory in this poem when he symbolically refers to the troubles they face as ‘the open grave’. He also uses ...