Allusions In I Have A Dream

“I Have a Dream” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 gave many examples of metaphors and allusions to build his argument. Such as alluding where they are located, comparing the treatment that African Americans were getting to handcuffs and restraints, comparing racial injustice to quick sand, and comparing brotherhood to a solid rock. These examples add support to back up his argument of how terrible the Africans Americans were being treated. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses metaphors and allusions to enhance his speech and make his point clear. To begin Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. uses allusions to tell where they are while he is giving the speech. In paragraph one he says, “a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation”. The audience can infer from this sentence that he is speaking at the Lincoln Memorial statue in Washington D.C. because Lincoln signed the Emancipation

King also uses metaphors to compare the stability of the two sides, being racial injustice and brotherhood, to help the audience and the opposing sides to see his point and see why he is correct. As he states in paragraph four, the quick sand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.” Dr. King uses things that everyone knows about, quick sand and rocks, to demonstrate how injustice is a trap and very unstable whereas brotherhood is solid, stable, and safe. Similar to using quick sand and rock, he utilizes darkness and light to also compare discrimination and segregation. In paragraph four Dr. King says, “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” By comparing desolation to the segregation he was emphasizing how simple-minded the people were to quickly segregate the races. Dr. King uses sunlight to identify lighting a path to righteousness and the darkness and desolation as a form of isolation of segregation of the African American