Letter from Birmingham Jail Comparison

I chose to compare the letter with a piece of writing trying to convince anyone in the real estate market to use Prudential Carolina Real Estate. My reason for choosing Prudential was because I worked for them last semester and I knew they use their website to convince customers to use them.

Comparing the Letter from Birmingham Jail to anything was a challenge because it was in response to the writing from the clergymen. Most of what Dr. King said directly addressed an issue in the letter from the clergymen.

The writing from Prudential is addressed to anyone who may come across their website. With a much broader audience, they had to be more vague in their persuasion.

One difference in the two writings was the use of facts vs personal views and opinion. Dr. King used his opinion and his own definitions of just and unjust to try and win other people to his side. Prudential uses mostly facts that support them compared to other real estate companies in the area. Both strategies seem to be effective, they are just used for different purposes.

Another more obvious difference is the length of the writings. This is also in direct relation to their purposes. Dr. King's letter is very lengthy although it is all necessary to make his point. Prudential has to appeal to an internet audience who does not want to spend much time on any one website, so they must persuade quickly. Their writing is much shorter than Dr. King's.

Very few common elements exist between these two pieces. I had a hard time finding anything to compare to Dr. King's letter. One reason is because most of my time on the internet is spent trying to avoid persuasion. I try to go where I want to go and not be redirected by people trying to sell me things. Because of this, I had no idea where to start searching for a persuasive document. When I found it, I realized how different these two writings are, however they both serve the purpose of persuading people.