I Have A Dream And The American Dream

Many people have come to America for adventure, opportunity, freedom, and the chance to experience the particular qualities of the American landscape. The American Dream is the idea that every United States citizen, including immigrants and residents, should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. America somewhat provides access to the American dream, it is more so the citizen who provides access to the dream for themselves. Even though they encountered many trials and tribulations, with persistence, people such as Langston Hughes in “I Too Sing America and Anzia Yezierska in “America and I” they were able to achieve their individual American Dream.

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

In Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech (1963) "I Have a Dream," brings an up-roaring excitement to his audience, African-Americans, which fills their hearts. He employ's cases of diction and parallelism, telling everyone that he wants African-Americans to be truly free. This turned the tides for African-Americans in the United States, filling them with enthusiasm and the yearning for change.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most successful and most legendary speeches in United States history. Martin Luther King Jr. was a masterful speaker, who established a strong command of rhetorical strategies. By his eloquent use of ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as his command of presentation skills and rhetorical devices, King was able to persuade his generation that "the Negro is not free" (King 1). His speech became the rallying cry for civil rights and lives on as an everlasting masterpiece.

Near the end of Martin Luther King’s speech a gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted to Dr. King saying, “Tell them about the dream, Martin”. At this point Dr. King stopped reading the speech and expressed his inner feelings saying “I have a dream..”(Mlk, 4). He continued to tell the crowd of his dream for the Negros to be free and equal and that they would be able to live happily and do as they pleased. He had a dream that America would live out the meaning of the constitution stating “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal”. He tells the crowd that at the end “We are free at last”. Dr. King’s choice of words and the tone in which he delivers his speech is enticing and pleasing to the crowd of America.

In Martin Luther King Jr's I Have a Dream speech, King talks about how unequal the treatment between African Americans and whites were. His views America as a segregated country. In many instances, he talks about slavery and how oppressed the slaves were. King uses many anaphoras such as “Negro” and “inequality” to convey his ideas. One of his most repeated phrases and his most famous one is “I have a dream”, after which he talks of a country without any segregation or discrimination. During his speech, King says “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 character”. He views America as one that is split. During that time period, there was segregation and discrimination. His dream involves an America that will be united where people can see each other as equals. This is the main idea behind speech. After each of these phrases, King says “I have a dream today”, which signifies that this is a big issue and needs to be resolved quickly. In this speech, King describes America as one that is divided, where the promise of equality is a lie.

There are three themes that resonate while reading and listening to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The first theme is that there is a great need for equality in America for their black citizens. He deduced, “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a

I have a dream that one day everyone will understand what Martin Luther King Jr said in his infamous speech on August 28, 1963, and recognize the power and beauty in his words. In the “I Have a Dream” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. persuades the citizens of the United States that they should no longer accept segregation, and all men should be created equal, as our Constitution states. In this fight though, we can not use violence, but use the power of words, and not stop until every human being is free. This speech was given in a time where black people were made to think that they were equal with white people, when in actuality, they were “separate but equal” which is not the same thing. This is when called segregation flourished and eventually, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had enough of this injustice and he spoke out to the citizens of the United States and the world to fight for freedom. This speech used all of the rhetorical devices: ethos, logos, and pathos, and it used such powerful, discrete language that not only persuaded the reader, but entertained them, drawing in his audience after every word. Its rhythm made it stay with people, haunting them. He truly made it clear of the awful ways the African American people were being treated, connecting to them, making them feel something, making the reader want to listen to him and follow King with every step he took.

On August 28th 1963, Martin Luther King gave his first “I have a dream” speech. He presented his speech at the Lincoln Memorial to make a point about the injustices of segregation and how to stop all the racism against African Americans. He wants to show that one day everyone will be free and be able to participate in obstacles no matter what your skin color is. King uses ethos, pathos and logos throughout his speech to help grab the audience’s attention and make them want to do as he says.

The meaning of Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech,was to express how racial equality is essential for people to peacefully coexist, and racism negatively affects the lives of Africans Americans. The March on Washington was a threatened march and it did not stop King speech. He was talking about how whites and blacks need to have equal rights. We should not be separate. Plus, Africans Americans have the rights to do whatever we want and go wherever we want to go. He made sure that the audience understand the importance of everybody becoming equal. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted that “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality”. Dr. King said that we demand to have freedom and not let freedom be given to

Abraham Lincoln said, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Our founding fathers created this nation on the principle that everybody is entitled to justice, yet we continue to see inequality in the land of the free and Martin Luther King set out to fix that. “I Have a Dream” by MLK, is by far the more motivating and moving speech; with its figurative language, strong vocabulary, and unlimited determination, MLK makes the audience want to change the injustices that overwhelm the African Americans and earn them their equality. The primary ways Martin Luther King believes they can obtain their

presented his most famous and notable speech. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” moved not only America, but the whole world. King’s speech consisted of social views that blacks and whites would one day live in harmony and unity, regardless of skin color. “I have a dream that my four 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.” - Martin Luther King Jr. (“I Have a Dream Speech”). His speech set a clear picture of what America should be, and what he hoped to be not only for himself, but future generations as

“I have a dream” is a renowned speech given by the late Martin Luther King Jr at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 during the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”, in front of a large audience of about 250000 people. In his speech, King speaks in favor of the Negro rights and appeals for a change in the situation of racial discrimination and poverty that people of color faced back in those days. With his moving and impactful words, King speaks for the Negros who faced injustice and still lived difficult lives in the chains of poverty and discrimination despite the official liberation of America by Abraham Lincoln, hundreds of years ago.

Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech was made on August 28, 1963. He talked about the history of his people: the Black nation and the need to be treated equal like other people. He makes a point that the Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for the black man. However, it was the freedom that never existed, since it was a toothless tiger. He says that Declaration of Independence has given it all, everyone with color or white, the freedom to quest happiness, meaning jobs and better civil rights legislation.

These profound words written in the Declaration of Independence embody what makes up what is known as the “American Dream.” America is perceived as the land of opportunity and prides itself on the fundamental beliefs of freedom and equality. In the United States, if one works hard, there is nothing one can not accomplish. These values and beliefs make up the American Dream, yet, for centuries, have faced an uphill battle fighting in order to achieve their dreams (Eliassen 1). For African Americans, the perception of the American Dream can be vastly different than it is to any other segments of the population. The concepts of equality and identity have played a significant role in African American’s ability to achieve the American dream. For centuries, the unique experience of being denied equal opportunity to achieve the American Dream had great significance in African American Literature. From the end of the Civil War to present day America, African American authors, Booker T. Washington, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, and Natasha Trethewey, use the written word to expose the injustices and the challenges that black Americans faced in achieving their version of the American Dream. Over the years, the concept of the American Dream is