Question

In “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” King cites T. S. Eliot’s observation about doing “the right deed for the wrong reason.” How does Eliot’s observation apply to actions that King describes in his letter?

1. It applies to the "Negro sit inners and demonstrators" who show amazing discipline in their nonviolent protests, even when they face great provocation.
2. It applies to those Birmingham police officers who show restraint in handling the demonstrators in public but treat them very harshly in the privacy of the city jail.
3. It applies to the seventy-two-year-old African American woman who supports the boycott of Montgomery's segregated bus system even though she is tired and oppressed.
4. It applies to those Birmingham police officers who use legal, nonviolent means to handle demonstrators in public but do so to maintain the injustice of racial discrimination.

Answer 1

Correct answers: 2 and 4.

Brief explanation:
- 2 and 4 describe people (principally Birmingham authorities/police) who perform outwardly “right” actions — restraint, legality, nonviolence, order — but do so for the wrong reasons (to preserve segregation, protect appearances, avoid bad publicity, or maintain the status quo). That is exactly Eliot’s point about doing the right deed for the wrong reason, and King criticizes these inward motivations in his letter.
- 1 and 3 describe the demonstrators and the elderly woman, whose discipline and sacrifice are motivated by the pursuit of justice; they are doing the right deed for the right reason, not Eliot’s mistaken form.