Question

Read the passage.

I must close now. But before closing I am impelled to mention one other point in your statement that troubled me profoundly. You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping “order” and “preventing violence.” I don’t believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry violent dogs literally biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I don’t believe you would so quickly commend the policemen if you would observe their ugly and inhuman treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you would watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you would see them slap and kick old Negro men and young Negro boys; if you will observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I’m sorry that I can’t join you in your praise for the police department.

In his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail,” Dr. King uses the phrase I don’t believe . . . twice. Which rhetorical device is he using?

balance

antithesis

emotion

parallelism

Answer 1

This would be an example of parallelism. Examples of parallelism is "I hope to go to the park today. I hope to get my test back. I hope to get a good grade". The words "I hope" is repeated. That is why it would be parallelism. Parallelism is the repetition of parts of a sentence. Hope that helps.