Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's Speech

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Mentions of geographic references throughout the speech. NY[p13], MS [p13, p14, p19, p39] etc. ‘Dark and desolate valley (of segregation) and sunlit path (of racial justice.)’ [p 6] “Five score years ago…” [p 2], “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” [and the rest of paragraph 4] Repetition of the words: ‘freedom’ (20), ‘We’ (30), ‘Dream’ (11). ‘In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check’[P4] ‘Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.’[P8] ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation-’ ‘This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the south with.’ ‘With this faith, …show more content…

His repetitive use of geographical reference is not accidental; he has mentioned Mississippi and by saying Mississippi, it would bring out a portion of the most grounded feelings and pictures for his group of onlookers. To contrast segregation with racial justice, King evokes the contrasting metaphors of dark and desolate and sunlit path to emphasize on the previous metaphors of ‘Manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination’ [3] King uses the “dark and desolate valley of segregation” to give a picture to this injustice and, in the same way says that racial justice is a “sunlit path” that will get America out of this valley. He, the author, is recalling historic references of literature: it is a strong method which improves credibility of his speech. References: P2 refers to Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech; P4 is a reference to the Declaration of Independence. His repetition of this words creates emphasize on his theme that he has set his speech around. One of the most used words is ‘Freedom’, which creates an emphasize of his ideas of racial injustice and segregation; it also adds symmetry, thus, organizes his speech

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