Martin Luther King Moral Code Analysis

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In the speech “I Have a Dream,” presented in the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr talks about his American Dream. This speech is recognized as one of the best speeches ever given at the Lincoln Memorial. As King gives his speech the reader would notice how the second half of the speech is what the world would see as the American dream. The first half consists of the actual reality, nightmare, of the world the constant state that seems never to change. Throughout the speech a person can hear one of the primary themes, dream, repeated constantly eleven times to be exact. Although King acknowledges the metaphor of reality, he explores the archetypical metaphor of a dream. Dreams are seen as a representation of unconscious …show more content…

The equality and opportunity ideal for the prosperity and success for all which this country promises is what people debate about. The American dream is supposed to be reality for all, but King says that there are people who want that reality to be specific for just a certain race. That is why where your “moral code” does comes into action when dealing with the American dream. How do most analyze what a moral code is? By definition a moral code is a series of agreements to which a person has promised to guarantee the survival of a group. A moral code is developed by a person’s family, teachers, friends, experiences, religion, and race. If all of these groups are on the same page with the American dream, King wants to know why there is still segregation between people based on the color of their skins. “Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” (King, 1963, p. 3) King, being a pastor, is heavy into religion. Growing up in the church people learn to treat others as they would want to be treated. That is the golden rule in everyone’s moral code, but King sees it as if some may not pay attention to …show more content…

Freud saw dreams to be the road to the unconscious as it is in dreams that the ego 's defenses are lowered so that some of the repressed material comes through to awareness, although in distorted form. Dreams perform important functions for the unconscious mind and serve as valuable clues to how the unconscious mind operates. Freud says that dreams are meant to be wish-fulfillment; his theory came from dream of his own. He thought that the reason one of his patients was not responding well to his treatment because of him. In his dream he pictured that another doctor gave the patient a dirty syringe and that is why she responded the way she did. King’s and the American dream comes from a conscious mind to create a better world where equality is present everywhere. These dreams are not to fulfill a wish, but a promise made through the documents created by our four fathers. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood.” (King, 1963, p. 3) King sees the Emancipation Proclamation as the document to free all slaves and the first step to bring people together as one. It is the events after the Emancipation Proclamation that made King have this dream. Promises that were made never happened and blacks continued to be treated as less of a

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