Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream

Within this quote there are multiple metaphors that help bolden King’s thoughts: “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination,” “island of poverty,” and “vast ocean of material prosperity.” These metaphors explain how it still felt nearly impossible to end discrimination, and how Negroes are on their own with no support. The use of the metaphors display a deeper and stronger meaning to the topics that King was passionate about. These rhetorical devices brought to the non-colored portion of the audience’s attention of how difficult the life of a Negro was and that freeing the slaves one hundred years ago was not enough.

Racism has always been a major problem in America. However, it was known to be the most problematic in the late 1950s. On August 28 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his infamous speech “I Have a Dream” to America. His dream highlighted the injustices of segregation and discrimination of African Americans that took place in this nation every single day. Dr. King inspired thousands despite the color of their skin, to take a stance against racism, with his powerful way with words. In his speech MLK efficaciously uses, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos by using allusions, developing credibility, in his speech to persuade all Americans to be aware of the problems with racism.

Subsequently, King exercises the strategy of pathos, the emotion appeal. In his statement, "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all God\'s children". The great use of imagery with the contrast of light vs. dark here definitely draws audience’s attention. Moreover, by making references to the government as a "Bank of Justice" that gave African Americans a "bad check," King describes the situation of the African American people. He proclaims that the "Bank" is not bankrupt and that it was time to "cash the check". These metaphors are easy to understand and are something that the audience can relate to.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the man who wrote the speech entitled “I have a dream” and presented it to nearly 250,000 people on August 23, 1963. In that speech, MLK Jr. used several different types of figurative language/rhetorical devices in order to convey his message to the people on a deeper level. These devices include personification, allusion, symbolism, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and anaphora.

By using allusion to historical leaders and documents, he reminds the audience of the past and strengthens his argument the time for change was long overdue. Repeating the phrases “I have a dream”, “Now is the time”, “Let freedom ring” and “Free at last”, King used anaphora and repetition to bring the speech to a great climax and leave the audience completely energized. King also used parallelism to unify the movement’s effort into one group of equal parts by urging the audience to “Go back to” Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, as well as “the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities”. He also used parallelism to send a message of unification to all parts of the country by repeating the phrase “Let freedom ring” combined with names of many of our country’s mountain ranges, just as in the song “America” by Samuel Francis Smith (My Country! ‘Tis of Thee). Perhaps it was King’s use of metaphors that made the speech draw in the audience. He described the circumstances of racism and inequality with phrases descriptive of slavery including “flames of withering injustice”, “chains of discrimination” which connected the audience to their past while inspiring them to change their future.

King’s speech; he puts himself in everyone else’s shoes by saying, “I am happy to join with you today.” By doing this, he captures their attention by telling them that “today will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” Now that the audience is fully engaged, he moves towards the sole purpose of his speech. He does this by saying that after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, “100 years later the Negro still is not free.” He goes on to continue to list some of the issues which still occur today and ends his introduction with saying “now is the time” to start action. The body of his speech is primarily made up of the summarization of injustice that the African American people face. He brings up the fact that some people are unable to vote and the police brutality’s which of course support his argument. He makes it personal by giving his insight of his hopes and dreams for the future by stating that his kids will “not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” The speech’s conclusion properly reviews Martin Luther King Jr.’s points and stimulates the emotions of the audience. He does this by using the repetition of the phrase “let freedom ring” to rejoin with the audience and really emphasizes his belief of the importance of freedom and injustice. Finally, the last line of his speech, “all of God 's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and

In addition to King’s uses of allusions, the speech contains many contrasting metaphors and similes that influence his audience very effectively. He begins by pointing out that even though Negros are freed from slavery, they are still slaves “crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” King then goes on about how “America has given the negro people a bad check” whereas the check in this instance symbolizes their right to equality because the mistreatment of the Negroes and racial discrimination is evident and the check “has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’” meaning they have yet to feel what they too, are guaranteed. With that understanding of human nature, Martin Luther King, Jr. compares gradualism to a tranquilizing drug, implying that people have a tendency to relax when things are “cooling off.” But he urges for his people not to relax and to take charge “to make justice in reality for all of God’s children.”

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream (1963)” speech, he addresses the idea that in order to fulfill the premise that “all men were created equal,” the people of the nation must work together to move past the injustices inflicted on African Americans in order to ultimately grant them their civil rights. King’s claim is supported by first repeatedly alluding to historically renowned milestones in the fight against oppression and illustrating numerous metaphors to create an emotional connection with his audience. King’s “dream” that he frequently mentions is the nationwide unification to work toward a common goal in order to bring integration of all races and coexist without oppression. By establishing his goal, he creates an earnest

He questions the audience about society and what they have done for their community. “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities; we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one; we can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity,” (King). King knows how to bring the people into the speech to involve every single person standing before him and make them feel like they are apart of the speech. He mentions what has been taken away from them which creates anger within the crowd. King’s ability to appeal to the audience through emotion affected society for decades after and changed the sense of pride the African Americans had.

King bemoans the fact that “one hundred years” after the Emancipation Proclamation an the end to slavery, “the Negro still is not free.” This may not seem like a typical logical appeal at first because it appeals to emotion, but it also points out that the revered Emancipation Proclamation that supposedly freed African-Americans, in fact, only lengthened the chains that bound them. King also argues that despite the words written in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and are therefore guaranteed certain rights, African-Americans still have yet to be given those rights at all. He furthers the logical argument by comparing this denial of rights to a “bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’" (King). This appeals to the logic that if all men are created equal, then they should be treated equal; one man should not have more or less rights than

King inspires those who support equal rights for all “ to rise up from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial injustice”.and stand up for what they believe. He insists that people who believe in the cause to speak up and join together as one voice, to demand equal rights that they deserve. In addition King uses Light and Dark imagery to make a statement on how people have been waiting a long time to receive equality and the same freedom as everyone else. He does this by discussing the Emancipation Proclamation, and how “ It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

At the peak of his speech to inspire equality , King invokes a feeling of sympathy in the hearts of the public by acknowledging the unfair discrimination towards Negroes . He appeals to the emotions of the audience by first describing the life of Negroes as “crippled by the manacles of segregation” and “the chains of discrimination”. He continues to state the harsh life of a colored person in which their “children are stripped of their selfhood”. By emphasizing the prejudiced circumstances placed onto people with darker skin tones , King makes the listeners sympathize with the unfair situation that has driven Negroes to become “battered by the storms of persecution” and “staggered by the winds of police brutality”. The repeated descriptions of the difficult, prejudice filled life that Negroes are forced to endure conveys a dark tone that shows the audience the reality of racism and makes them show compassion for the struggling African American people.

In more recent history, King reminds readers of the fundamental values that the United States were built on as written in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, showing once again that equality was the intention of the forefathers from the beginning. His vivid examples of the daily injustices still endured by the Negro society despite written law against such behaviors put a visual image to the term “injustice” that could not be ignored. In one example, King writes, “your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park…and you see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children,” appealing to all people on a different level - that of a mother or father, instead of black or white (177). While imprisoned by an unjust law for leading a peaceful demonstration, a blatant violation of his First Amendment right, King’s thoughtful and thorough response to the eight clergymen’s letter conveyed patience and love while steadfastly demanding equality long overdue.

In “I Have a Dream” (1963), Martin Luther King delivers an invigorating and passionate speech regarding the condition of negroes and their treatment in America. King brings to light the wrongful conditions that surround negroes and draws direct comparisons with the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to highlight the discrepancies between the two. He utilizes allusions, inclusive diction, and metaphors in order to intensify the conditions in the public eye as well as heighten the necessity of a solution. While King explicitly addresses the negro, he is careful to apply a degree of inclusiveness in his speech to convey a message that is applicable to people of all color.

King’s use of contrast begins almost immediately, as he defines the rhetorical situation to which he is responding. At the commencement of the oration, King notes that the occasion “will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation,” (King 1). By doing so, King establishes the March on Washington as a day that will stand out from the discourse of hate that the United States had been experiencing. To further lay the groundwork for his message, King explains that the Emancipation Proclamation was a “momentous decree” and “a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves,” (King 1). In this way, King contrasts the goals of the Emancipation Proclamation with the disappointing ends that it has achieved. King laments, a century has passed and “the Negro is still badly crippled by the