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A little over 50 years ago, black people were segregated from white people in the United States. Many people of both races were unhappy and in disgust with this treatment of the African Americans. One man stood up to write a moving, groundbreaking, powerful speech about how black men deserve everything white men do, according to the founding documents. Martin Luther King Jr. tells his audience of 250,000 that they need to take immediate action against this injustice against mankind. This speech was “I Have a Dream”. The speech leaves a meaningful imprint on its audience through the way King uses strong diction and urgent organization. He paints a picture in the reader and listener’s mind through his use of figures of speech. Even though …show more content…
In a powerful way, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to incorporate convincing figurative language in his speech to get this message imbedded into the minds of the audience.King writes an analogy. In it, he explains, giving the audience a picture in their minds, what it is like to be guaranteed rights, but only being given them partially. “In a sense, we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.” This check is a metaphor for freedom and equality. This check “...was a promise that all men, yes black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable rights’....” At the time of King’s speech, the black people, although free, were segregated from the white people; they were inferior and unequal. This is not what the “check” has promised. “...America had given the Negro people a bad check, a check which had been marked ‘insufficient funds’.” This analogy really makes you understand his fight, doesn’t it? With the audience at the same level of understanding as King, himself, they can more easily become convinced to join his side. This insightful way of presenting racial inequality makes the speech more memorable and keeps the attention of the audience to give it a stronger point; it makes the audience want to be able to …show more content…
He shows that they need to take action immediately against the horrendous act of racial segregation and discrimination. King capitalizes on making the audience feel as if not taking immediate action against racial injustice is forbidden. He explains in a powerful way that “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” It was not the time to sit limp instead of fighting for MLK’s cause. The words tranquilizing and gradualism kind of hit you like a bus. They caused King’s audience to be powerfully affected in a way that caused them to take action, rather than to be “tranquilized”. King uses the word “now” quite frequently in a particular paragraph of the speech, where he strongly pushes the fact that action against segregation needs to be taken immediately. “Now is the time to rise from the dark...Now is the time to lift our nation...Now is the time to make justice a reality.” The repetition of this particular word makes his point all the more compelling for this is an assertive word that makes us feel the need to complete a task -- particularly take a stand against segregation, in the case of King’s audience. MLK continues to say that “It would be fatal to overlook the urgency of the moment.” Fatal is a strong word because it has such a serious undertone and causes the audience to feel obligated to help as if the
He starts of his speech by showing how the Emancipation of Proclamation was supposed to free them but didn’t. King says, “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation of Proclamation.” He then shows how the African Americans feel after this whole time of when they supposedly had their freedom. Dr. King shares, “One hundred years later, the Negro still languishes in th...
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 also very much present in his speech.
The author of the “I Have A Dream” speech is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King, known for his work in Civil Rights during the 1960s. In this informative speech, Dr. King inspires individuals to have a change in both white and black citizens during the Civil RIghts era in the United States. Moreover, the premise of the speech is that both sides of the discussion must accept change in a non-violent yet effective way. He spoke about the injustices of segregation and discrimination of black citizens that was occurring in our nation. As he opened, “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation,” he explained what he was there to do for all citizens. He is
In the beginning of his speech Martin Luther heralds back almost one hundred years by linking the importance of the march to the Emancipation Proclamation(King 3). By doing this King puts the issue of equality into a timeline by showing that while it has been a hundred years since African Americans had been given freedom it also shows that while freedom has been granted to them there has still been very little that has happened to give the African race a better life. Not much further in his speech King say, “ 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.” (King 3) Again by taking an important article from America’s past King says that when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution they meant for all Americans to be equal. Midway through the speech King pleads with his people to never resort to violence in the face of adversity that is handed to them by their oppressors, because King has came to realize through his own trials that the “their( referring to the white man)destiny is tied up with our destiny.”(King 3) As King’s speech progresses he tells the masses that until they have their rights be equal to those who rights are unbounded that they must not stop until they have achieved their goal. By being able to use
Dr. King brilliantly weaves so many subtleties into such a relatively short speech that almost 50 years later it still must be analyzed to no end. Dr. King was a southern Baptist preacher before he was sucked into the leading role of the civil rights movement, I’m sure that had a great effect on his ability to give a speech. Dr. King knew just what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. From this we can see Dr. King’s lasting effect, and the fact that although we have come far in the area of civil rights, we still have a long way to go and it will be Dr. King’s timeless words that usher us into a new era of prosperity and brotherhood.
One of the most influential speeches ever given on the earth was given on a potiumat the Lincoln Momorial in Washington D.C on August 28th 1963. The great speech was given by Martin Luther King Jr. who deciatied his time on earth to prove that all people are equal. Martin Luther used different parts of the English language to enhance the meaning of his speech and bring out the details. The different rhetorical devices, allusions to historic documents, and metaphors seemed to have brought about the emotions that King was trying to arouse in his listeners. This helped him influence his listeners towards wanting equality for all and changing what was happening in the present so they didn't repeat things in the past .
Dr. King was speaking as if he was Moses on Mount Sinai, bringing down the Ten Commandments. As if he was seated with Christ speaking to his apostles at the last supper. He felt this moment in time, on those steps before the Lincoln Memorial was his time to make his spirit, dedication and fervor for justice for the entire negro race be known from the hilltops of New Hampshire to the slopes of California and back to every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
On the summer day of August 28th,1963 at the Washington memorial, Martin Luther delivered his speech “I have a dream” to America. Martin called for ending racism and for civil and economic rights. : "I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream." Martin tell us that his dream of racial equality is the same dream that the founding fathers had in the early days of the country and uses documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution. Martins purpose of this speech a drive to get more equal treatment for all Americans. This paper will analyze some of the rhetorical appeals such as ethos,logos, and pathos that Dr.King used to persuade the audience.
Martin Luther King’s speech was made after the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He delivered the “I Have a dream” speech on the Lincoln Memorial steps. He verbalized this speech to millions of people blacks and whites. This is one of the greatest speeches because it has many elements like repetition, assonance and consonance, pathos, logos, and ethos.
In a period of time where few were willing to listen, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood proudly, gathered and held the attention of over 200,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech was very effective and motivational for African Americans in 1963. Many factors affected Kings’ speech in a very positive manner; the great emotion behind the words, delivering the speech on the steps of the memorial of the President who defeated slavery. And not only was this message beautifully written for the hope of African Americans, but the underlying message for white people, revolution and peace. To stimulate emotion from both parties of his listeners, King used a selection of rhetorical devices such as allusions to historical documents, metaphors, similes, anaphoras and others.
These methods helped King to make the listeners believe that white people have lied to the Negroes. King mentions in his speech that when America was founded, “the Constitution and Declaration of Independence” expressed that every person would be treated the same despite of their appearance. However, this promise has been broken by the white people nowadays. This makes the audience think about how morally wrong racism is and how they have deceived black people by not committing to their
In his speech, “I Have a Dream,” delivered on August 28, 1963 at Abraham Lincoln’s memorial in Washington, D.C., Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. explores the rights that African American’s are granted by the U.S. Constitution. King believes that those rights are not equal to the rights that white men and women have. King describes a world that is different than the world where he lives. A world that he desires his family to grow up in and the vision that he sees America becoming. Though all Americans were ostensibly granted unalienable rights, King uses rich figurative language to argue that African Americans are still waiting to enjoy the same privileges afforded to others.
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.
On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech to more than 200,000 people during the March on Washington. King's speech was one of the most influential during the era of the Civil Rights Movement and is to this day recognized as a masterpiece due to its effect on the audience as well as for its eloquence and language. Many components went into this passionate speech that portrayed King's hopes for racial equality and a brighter future made the speech as moving as it was. It is doubtful that any person can guess that this speech was written without forethought regarding what goals King wished to accomplish in this speech. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eloquent language was perfectly suited to his audience, both his immediate and secondary audience, and his carefully chosen diction helped to shape arguable one of the most touching works ever spoken.
King begins his speech by referencing important historical documents such as the Constitution of the United States and the Emancipation Proclamation. This is emphasized when he states, ”Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation...But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this