President Barack Obama's Grant Park Victory Speech and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr's Letter from Birmingham Jail are very similar as well as very different. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963 after he was arrested for demonstrating without a permit. Obama wrote Grant Park Victory Speech in 2008 after his presidential election. The audience, the message and the tone of the essay are both different and alike.
The audience for the two essays is mostly different. However, there is a slight similarity. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail was written strictly in response to the eight clergymen who had written him. Obama's Grant Park Victory Speech was different because it was written for not eight men, but the whole United States. The audience for the two essays is completely different. The small similarity is that they were both written for dedicated Americans. King wrote to American clergymen who were dedicated citizens, and Obama wrote to Americans who had a huge appreciation for their country. The audience for the two is more different than alike.
The message of the essays is opposite, but it has quite a few similarities. .
The message is alike because in both essays the authors are writing about America working together as a whole and the American dream. King's letter was written to explain how racial discrimination needed to end. He wrote about America coming together to end segregation because America was built on freedom. Obama's speech was very similar because in it, he often referred to America as "we." By doing this he was meaning America as a whole and that we are all one. In it, Obama also says this line, "America is a place where all things are possible" (769). It is very clear in Letter from Birmingham Jail that King believes this as well. He shows this by his positive attitude on the future of America. Both King and Obama's belief in change is evident in their essays.
