Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

Subsequently, King exercises the strategy of pathos, the emotion appeal. In his statement, "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God\'s children". The great use of imagery with the contrast of light vs. dark here definitely draws audience’s attention. Moreover, by making references to the government as a "Bank of Justice" that gave African Americans a "bad check," King describes the situation of the African American people. He proclaims that the "Bank" is not bankrupt and that it was time to "cash the check". These metaphors are easy to understand and are something that the audience can relate to.

The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro.” This quote shows integrity because King is responding to the challenges of his critics, and truly speaks about the struggles that black residents go through. During this time, they were waiting too long for the freedoms that they were

King uses a metaphor within his emotional appeal to express that his emotions are not only felt by him but by the Negro community and they are deep. “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation” (King 3), expresses that he does not expect the whites to be able to feel what the Negro community feels as it is almost a physical pain. This is effective because he is separating his thoughts and feelings from the white community to show what they have been doing themselves. King unfolds a series of events that is shared by almost every Negro individual with the use of anaphora because they have been told to “wait”. “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers….when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers….”

He references historical events such as the American Revolutionary War against Britain and early slavery to make his point. He indicates that “the first American to shed blood in the revolution...was a black seaman named Crispus Attucks.” King also reminds the readers that it was “Negroes who were with George Washington at Valley Forge.” In concluding this section, King references Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that was supposed to ensure equality in America, but “equality has never arrived” because African Americans are still facing discrimination. His appeal to logic gives the black audience proof of their worth so that they can see why they deserve freedom.

In his speech, King expresses, that the "Negro...finds himself in exile in his own land” (Jr., Dr. Martin). This expression yields empathy as it demonstrates that he sympathizes with the unreasonable treatment and distance of African Americans. He likewise utilizes highly conative words to bring out an enthusiastic reaction in the audience, for example, "chains of discrimination" and "oppression" to fortify the requirement for change. He also uplifts his audience through positive diction using words such as “freedom,” “majestic,” and “brotherhood” to spur and move his crowd. He additionally claims to logos through his utilization of analogies: “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient

Relating to several biblical allusions like Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ, he sensuously establishes credible authenticity and significance to his motives of civil disobedience against unjust laws; they assist in accentuating the justice within his “unjustified” actions. King also provokes compelling emotional tides of sympathy and compassion to overcome his readers when he provides sorrow-filled descriptions of the torments Blacks have to go through everyday. Furthermore, his usage of logic in identifying equality as a natural right of all men firmly defends his reasons on sanctioning desegregation. Leaving no loopholes behind his reasoning or ambiguity in his purpose, King competently succeeds in proficiently perpetuating his views on injustice and civil disobedience.

King’s use of many rhetorical devices in these three paragraphs of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” solidify his conviction that segregation needs to be quelled immediately. Dr. King’s explanations justify the demonstrations and protests that he is participating in. Although this was a letter meant for clergymen, Dr. King simultaneously taught all of America a very important lesson: justice is a universal natural right, and when it is denied, it needs to be demanded. Racial equality is the form of justice in this case, as segregation was the culprit that divided society into two racial groups. Thus, Dr. King successfully advocated civil rights through this letter with powerful, clever

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letters to Birmingham,” he uses figurative language and literary devices to show the effects of segregation. By using figurative language he helps the reader get a more detail and visual description of King’s purpose. For example, King states “…we were confronted with blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of a deep disappointment settled upon us.” Later he says “Individuals may see the moral light and give up their unjust posture…” King is using these metaphors to contrast each other. By doing this he is able to compare his feelings toward racism and people who believe in equality.

By the time of the 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at the March on Washington, King had become the voice of the various perspectives of life as a Black American. He now expressed the universal voice of all his people, and he was not afraid to use it in the pursuit of equality for Blacks (Branch, 881-3). Martin Luther King’s Birmingham campaign would prove to be the

In addition to King’s uses of allusions, the speech contains many contrasting metaphors and similes that influence his audience very effectively. He begins by pointing out that even though Negros are freed from slavery, they are still slaves “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” King then goes on about how “America has given the negro people a bad check” whereas the check in this instance symbolizes their right to equality because the mistreatment of the Negroes and racial discrimination is evident and the check “has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’” meaning they have yet to feel what they too, are guaranteed. With that understanding of human nature, Martin Luther King, Jr. compares gradualism to a tranquilizing drug, implying that people have a tendency to relax when things are “cooling off.” But he urges for his people not to relax and to take charge “to make justice in reality for all of God’s children.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was an astonishing display of language that persuaded the American nation to dissolve the barrier that stood between equality for all in our great nation. The true beauty in Dr. King’s speech rests in his ability to persuade the audience at the Lincoln Memorial, as well as, the nation to believe that it is a necessity to rid the exigence of segregation. Through the usage of metaphors that engage the reader, King uses language as an instrument to control the audience’s emotions and fuel their ideas that they can be the ones to make the change to propel our nation from one mediocrity to greatness. In his speech, King uses an eloquent blend between symbols and emotions through metaphors to persuade the audience that there is no true constraint that can hold them from achieving their goal and use the historical March on Washington as the solution to this exigence that failed to wither away one hundred years ago when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

By using allusion to historical leaders and documents, he reminds the audience of the past and strengthens his argument the time for change was long overdue. Repeating the phrases “I have a dream”, “Now is the time”, “Let freedom ring” and “Free at last”, King used anaphora and repetition to bring the speech to a great climax and leave the audience completely energized. King also used parallelism to unify the movement’s effort into one group of equal parts by urging the audience to “Go back to” Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, as well as “the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities”. He also used parallelism to send a message of unification to all parts of the country by repeating the phrase “Let freedom ring” combined with names of many of our country’s mountain ranges, just as in the song “America” by Samuel Francis Smith (My Country! ‘Tis of Thee). Perhaps it was King’s use of metaphors that made the speech draw in the audience. He described the circumstances of racism and inequality with phrases descriptive of slavery including “flames of withering injustice”, “chains of discrimination” which connected the audience to their past while inspiring them to change their future.

Imagine being a child playing with many different people but those parents wouldn’t allow that child to play with the others because of the color of skin. Martin Luther King, the writer of the speech “I Have a Dream,” experienced this occasion with his other black people. Throughout his speech, he uses a passionate tone to persuade the white people, and the government about discrimination is an abomination towards God’s creation. King uses allusion to connect to events that happened before the speech was written. Martin Luther King, Jr. points out important documents he connects to, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation” (King).

(King,2) King knows that the whites are very violent and come to the blacks with hatred-- but he insists do not fight back with violence no matter how much they get taken advantage of by whites and the police. King also included, “No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until, “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (King,2) At this time in history blacks were not given much : liberty, freedom, justice, and rights everything was taken from them and they were treated

From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial more than forty years ago, Martin Luther King electrified America with his momentous "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech demanded racial justice towards the mistreated black community of America. The theme of the speech was that all humans were created equal and that this should be the case for the future of America. King's words proved to touch the hearts of millions of people and gave the nation a vocabulary to express what was happening to the black Americans. This did not happen by chance. Martin Luther King's speech was carefully constructed so it would have the most appropriate diction to propose his facts and ideas. His speech involved multiple different literary techniques which were very