Assuming these were the excerpts:
- But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children...
- While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
- What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?
And these were the rhetorical devices you had to match them with:
- satire
- rhetorical questions
- repetition
Excerpt 1 uses repetition. This means that the author is stating his point several times to get the point across with more effect. Here, King is repeating what he has "seen" and continues to "see," which is the deplorable living conditions of African-Americans around him.
Excerpt 2 uses satire. This means that the author is discussing a topic or a person (in this case, King is writing about his detractor, what he said, and with what intentions) in a way that criticizes them through mockery or sarcasm. King is probably being sarcastic when he writes: "I feel that you are men of genuine good will."
Excerpt 3 uses rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions are questions which do not expect a reply, but are asked to raise a point and draw attention to the subject matter rather than to finding an answer. The interrogative form gives a dramatic effect to the argument.