Martin Luther King Rhetorical Analysis

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.

“But more basically,I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C.left their villages and carried their,”thus saint the lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns,and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world,so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.like Paul,I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.”

It's the 1960's; American society is being torn asunder by civil unrest involving the struggle for equality at home and an inhumane war in Vietnam. In the midst of such turbulence, Martin Luther King Junior argues that American involvement in the war in Vietnam is unjust. He poignantly examines the thesis using appeals to ethos logos and pathos.

Dr. King also makes it a point to share his ideas and hopes for the future as he talks about brotherhood and justice for all of “God’s children” not just limited to African Americans. To illustrate the idea of the struggle, King compares the feelings and “discontent” of the African Americans to the feeling that one gets during a very hot summer. He then uses autumn to compare the relief that it brings after the summer to the relief that will come to the people of color once they’ve gained freedom and equality. King makes sure to address the fact that the event is not just one in which the Negroes are venting nor are they just feeling the need to get something off their chest, but an event where they expect change to take place soon and thereafter. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual (Dr. Martin Luther King, 1963). In addition to addressing the oppressors, Dr. King also addressed his people and the ones supporting the movement. Drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred is something that Dr. King encourages the people not to do; he does not want the need for freedom and the weariness of struggle to cloud their vision. The fight is one in which King believes should be done with the heart and soul, not with fists and

I think Dr King had a better argument because he spoke for the community in an intelligent manner with a sense of equality at hand. I think he also is more appealing on an emotional level and used pathos more efficiently while calling out injustices and demanding change in a peaceful manner. His overall message really came across as if he was speaking for all the people in his community. When he talked about the police and how he simply couldn't agree with what they are doing, he still was respectful when stating his grievances. I think a level headed mindset is something people can gravitate towards too, especially in a time of racial tension. Dr.King also uses some rhetorical devices to convey the indisticed of segregation.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most influential figure from the Civil Rights Movement and still is to do the young minds of today. He is considered the face of the Civil Rights Movement. From his rallies, to his protests, to his speeches; it was obvious of how much of a great mind MLK had. He produced many popular and powerful piece of writings all throughout this period, such as his “I Have a Dream” speech, but his most famous piece of writing is Letter from Birmingham Jail. This letter was written on April 16, 1963 after King was arrested for leading a demonstration that was designed to bring attention to the cruel racist treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. Within in this letter it’s clear that Dr. King used his extensive knowledge of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to influence the reader.

Martin Luther King Jr. advocates for non-violence throughout much of his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” However, he uses the extremist behavior of the black nationalists as a way to threaten the “white moderates” into siding with him on the issue of Civil Rights with the idea that he is the most moderate and sensible person leading the fight for equality. How can King justify using others’ violence to argue for nonviolence? Even though King’s tactics seems contradictory, it did help to encourage “white moderates” to advance his cause for equality, avoiding the violence of extremist groups.

Dr. King gave a demonstration concerning this agonizing, perplexing question by recalling an event that occurred immediately after Christ’s transfiguration. Therefore, as Jesus was coming down from the mountain, He found a small boy that was in wild convulsions. Continuously the disciples had tried desperately to cure the unhappy child, but the harder they labored to heal him the more they realized their own inadequacies and the pathetic limitations of their power. But just before they were about to give up in despair; Jesus appeared on the scene. Then after the father of the child told Jesus of the failure of the disciples, Jesus “rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him, and the child was cured that same hour.”

Martin Luther king Jr. uses the word hope in the sense of optimistic attitude and anticipation of positive results. He has used the word several times in his letter because it has the power to help people heal. King has mentioned it mostly in pathos and logos.

The first two paragraphs in his book possess powerful diction that describe the living conditions of African Americans as “vermin-infested” and “rickety”. Martin Luther King joins in their time of suffering because he too has faced the hardships of being a colored man in a condescending white society. The description of the two Negro children demonstrates the knowledge King has about the horrific environment that families and all African Americans are living in because of white supremacy. He analyzes the concept of “no promotions for the Negro” in stores, but employs “no promotions” in life and rights for African Americans by detailing their “all-Negro” ambience. The vivid vernacular captures a sense of comfort and understanding to the Negro community. Through King’s loaded diction and the concept of an equal society, the African American people grasp a desire to enforce change, whereas the non-Negros recognize the harsh conditions they are creating for the African

Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” was written in a time when racism was so strong, it interfered with daily life. During this time of hatred, many things happened that King did not necessarily agree with. King, unlike many other African Americans, decided he would stand for it no longer. When he found a solution he thought would work, it caused conflict between the races and everyone began to fight, for what they believed was right, for their races. In King’s letter, he tries to explain, to his clergymen, what they had done was necessary if anything was going to change for the African American race. He explains, his reasoning through an effective process of writing, by using ethos, pathos, and logos. King uses ethos to show his true leadership to his clergymen, pathos to express his emotions due to the way he and other African Americans were treated and logos by using many supported examples.

Equality. Justice. Liberty. This was what all colored citizens hoped for such a long time. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired everyone across the nation to achieve that freedom with his speech, “I Have A Dream”. While acknowledging the efforts made by former presidents and civil rights activists, MLK emphasized the point that segregation must end now. He highlighted how wonderful equality will be and how horrendous isolation was. Yearning for justice to become a reality, King wished to galvanize citizens to finally bring an end to discrimination throughout the nation.

Menneske, humain, menschlich, umano, humano, human. There are many different ways to say the word, “human” (“How to Say Human in Different Languages”). Despite how different the words themselves look, they all have one thing in common: their definition. The word human is defined as “of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people” (dictionary.com). The definition does not say anything about the friends people talk to, the clothes they wear or the color of their skin.

Martin Luther King Jr. gives this speech on September 28, 1965. This time period was the heart of the Civil Rights movement in America. Slaves received their freedom at the end of the Civil War, in 1865. However, the battle for former slaves did not end there. While they may have earned their freedom, there was still a long road ahead to achieving equality. Martin Luther King Jr., was a Civil Rights activist and speaker. In this speech, he talked not only about what has been accomplished, but about everything that was still a problem. Touching on the KKK, racism, troubles voting, and even the unemployment of African Americans in Chicago. He touched on how during slavery, slaves often referred to the story of Moses leading the Israelites

There is repetition in this speech to emphasize King’s point. Some of the phrases that were repeated were “We cannot be satisfied as long as”, “Some of you have”, “Go back to”, and finally “I have a dream”. He uses these phrases to build on a point that there is injustice that needs to be fixed.