Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as an icon. He was a Baptist minister and involved with the movement of civil rights. In his “ I Have A Dream” speech, he doesn’t introduce his dream until midway through his speech. Martin Luther King Jr. used various methods to his hypotonic language in the “ I Have A Dream” speech. ; He shared his dream in the middle of his speech, in order to reassure the attention of millions of people. Martin Luther King Jr. was not just anybody; he was symbolic. “ I Have A Dream” speech contained a lot of metaphors. A metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to explain, but it is not literal. One metaphor was, “The negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” …show more content…
speech was to capture the public's attention first, so he can get through the people minds in what he dreams to see in the world from the nation one day. He even says, “And I say to you today my friends, let freedom ring.” United states of america represents freedom; It is a place of equality and justice. Martin Luther King Jr. was a firm believer of equality and peace. Our country has not realized the dream. King Jr clearly even stated, “ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.” Time has went by since Martin Luther King Jr. introduced his dream and this nation has still not realized his dream. This nation has not rise up as one to live King Jr.’s Dream. Today, discrimination is still a problem. There has been occasions where people of color are kicked out of restaurants. For example, just recently two guys of color were arrested because they were waiting outside of starbucks. King Jr. said, “ I have a dream that little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” yet the nation has not done a good job in acting upon
Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered as motivation to fight for their rights and help paint the picture of what America could look like in the future. He does this by in the beginning saying that even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed African Americans are not treated as normal citizens. By saying this Martin Luther King Jr. was saying we should not just be content with being free from slavery. That now it is time to fight for our rights and to end discrimination because of the color on one’s skin.
Martin Luther King Junior’s “I have a dream speech” is an important and famous speech in history, and even still a today a wonderful speech. What makes kings speech so grate? It’s his knowledge of figurative language. By using figurative language, he made people know how bad segregation was. King’s use of figurative language makes excellent examples on the effective use of metaphors.
Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream has said to have been fulfilled. However, others claim that the dream has only been taken at face value, thus, misunderstood. In John McWhorter’s article, “Black People Should Stop Expecting White America to ‘Wake Up’ to Racism,” he refers to past and recent events to establish the difference between society’s fantasy and the misinterpreted Dream of Dr. King.
After 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln gave African American slaves their freedom in society they were still not treated as equals. In August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C Martin Luther King Jr. gave the speech “I Have a Dream” that impacted the nation. The twenty-six-year-old pastor of the city's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church had to show the grievances of his people, justify their refusal to ride on Montgomery's city busses, and encourage them in peaceful way. In the “I have a dream” speech given by Dr. King he uses persuasive appeals to fight for the civil right movements in the most civilized way. To do this he had to convince African Americans that his way of going with things was in their best interests, and he had to convince white Americans that his vision was not going to change their heritage and in their best interests as well.
Dr. King is an emotional, inspiring, and strong speaker. His " I Have A Dream" speech tugs a deep root war of emotions in every American’s heart; therefore, this speech is the perfect display of pathos. Even though pathos overwhelm logo and ethos, they are also very much present in his speech. On August 28, 1963 Dr. King made his way to Washington Mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial to deliver his speech to his fellow Americans. Dr. King commands his speech during an ironic time in American history.
Civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr, in his powerful speech, “I have a dream” indicated that even though we own the Emancipation Proclamation, we also had been suffering the discrimination. King’s purpose is to invert the current unfair situation and make the Negros have the same rights as white people. He adopts a poignant tone in order to claim that Negros should have their own rightful place and appeal the Negro people who have the same inequity experiences.
The United States of America as a nation suffered multiple racial and social forms of segregation even before its formation, but as the years passed and as each group fought for the right of freedom, they all united under one flag and fought for the values they all believed in such as freedom, dignity and democracy until they gained independence. After the British left and the end of slavery, Americans started to build this nation of success where dreams of those that work hard become true. Martin Luther king had a dream as well, a dream where all Americans are subject to equal rights and live under the same high moralities and values that founded this nation. But during his life, citizens of color and specifically African-Americans were segregated within society and treated as second class citizens.
Martin Luther King Jr. was targeting the white people of the America that were still on the fence about taking action for black rights. King references the Declaration of Independence three times in his “I Have a Dream” speech. King was passionate about the social equality for the black people of the United Sates, and said the government had given American people of color a bad check. He proclaimed “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable rights’ of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness” but even 100 years after the emancipation proclamation, the United States citizens of color still were not a free people. It is important to note that Martin Luther King Jr. does something in his speech that the other two have not. He uses “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal” clause as a way to emotionally connect with his target audience. While the other two have just use logic and reason to make their points, King points to the hearts of his audience by talking about the Declaration and his dream for a colorblind society, one where “his children will be judged by not the color of their skin but the content of their
Martin Luther King uses a lot of repetition in his speech. They are scattered throughout but very close. One of the repetitions in his speech is “I have a dream.” He uses this phrase to show what he sees in the future of America. One of the phrases he uses with it is: “I have a dream that one day this nation will and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” Another is “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their nature. I have a dream today.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 12) Two other repetitions he uses is “Let freedom ring” and “Free at last.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 16&17)
On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous and powerful speech I Have a Dream, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The purpose of his speech was to fight for the civil rights, equality, and to stop the discrimination against African-American people. His use of imagery, repetition, and metaphor in his speech had created an impact with his audience. King used the three rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos and logos to help the audience understand the message of his speech.
He felt that all Americans should be equal and that they should forget about injustice and segregation. He wanted America to know what the problems were and wanted to point out the way to resolve these problems. In his speech, King uses different types of rhetorical guidelines. He uses them to show his points in a better and easier way to understand. At the beginning he successfully uses mythos. A myth has a deep explanatory or symbolic resonance for the audience.
In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the comprehension and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis.
Overall, Martin Luther King’s purpose of this speech was to unite African Americans and Caucasians to fight together for the same cause, equal rights for all people no matter the color of their skin. To successfully convey this purpose, King employed several tools of persuasion in his speech. He did indeed present an example of what could qualify as the "greatest demonstration" of arguments for true freedom for all Americans. He employed the techniques of ethos, pathos and logos with such skill that his audience likely was only aware of a single steering man towards a national unity.
The speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. to the African Americans and to the white Americans in the August of 1963 was undoubtedly a motivator for many. It is no wonder why a vast majority of people living in the United States can recite words from the speech of a now deceased man. Because his language and diction spoke to all believers in freedom as well as to freedom's adversaries, his message was universal and had a meaning to all who heard it. This continues today. Freedom and equality are something to be attained, for all of us.
Dr. Martin Luther King lived in a time of Racial Segregation. He grew up with people scorning him simply because of the color of his skin. When he began a family of his own, he had the dream that life should be better than he had it. He marched protests and gave speeches, speaking his dream to everyone who would listen. His most famous speech being the “ I have a dream speech… ”. This speech spoke of his dream that all men were equal whether they were white, or black, or any other color of skin. That was his American Dream.