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? Choose the correct answer

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

4

King uses Eliot’s point to criticize those (including some officials) who follow legal, orderly procedures not out of justice but to preserve segregation — doing the "right" public deed for the wrong reason.