Stride Towards Freedom Rhetorical Analysis

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In Martin Luther King Jr.’s excerpt from his book, “Stride Toward Freedom”, he explains how people are responding to being oppressed and the three main ways to respond. He uses description to talk about how each of the three ways of dealing with oppression works, and then presents them in a order to set up a comparison and contrast for the readers. He also fills his writing with different methods of writing and word choice to help the reader better be persuaded to agree with his favored way of dealing with oppression. He first lets the readers know that there are three main ways people deal with oppression. The first way he explains is acquiescence. It is a word not most people would know, so King uses examples and explanation to help the reader understand it. He uses the allusion to a bible story of Moses trying to free the slaves of Egypt as an example. He also gives an example of a Negro guitarist who used acquiescence to help the reader better understand the term. Then, King discusses how this method is not ideal with the use of similes and personification. He uses the simile, “the oppressed become as evil as …show more content…
When talking about each option he used a small cause and effect pattern with each one mentioning their effects and outcomes. He also used a lot of description and some definition to describe and help the reader better understand these options and their effects. Overall though, King set it up for the readers to compare and contrast by explaining each option. Furthermore, King assumed the readers of this excerpt and many others at the time wanted to partake in violence and giving up, which is why he wrote about how both of those options are ineffective, and that they should follow his proposed best option. In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr. put together a very effective and powerful excerpt directed at helping the crisis at the time with race