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I Have A Dream Rhetorical Essay

860 Words4 Pages

African American leader and influencer of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., in his speech, “I Have a Dream”, emphasizes the longing and desire for equality and an end to discrimination. King’s purpose is to instill feelings of compassion and determination in the reader as he reveals his dreams for the future of the world and the nation. He develops an intense and strong-willed tone in order to motivate the reader or listener to relate to the struggle of African Americans and feel the urgency to continue the fight for equality. King introduces the topic of his speech as he criticizes the conditions in which African American people are being treated. He creates a sympathetic mood in the reader by using repetition of the phrase …show more content…

King declares, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’”. He then proceeds in a demanding tone, stating that he and his people will not accept that there are “insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation” (Jr.). He makes adequate use of this extended metaphor in order to declare a call for action. The audience is constantly being reminded of the urgency of this situation. From the rhetorical analysis of Michael Hyun Jr, he expresses that there are numerous occasions throughout King’s speech where he is urging the audience to “rise up and demonstrate their freedom” (Hyun). King is constantly making use of various devices in order to reach his intended audience. The choice of checks and money as the topic of this extended metaphor is effective because it is guaranteed to grasp the intended audience’s attention. The intended audience of this speech is mostly upper-class white people, so King did this in order to put his feelings into terms that these people may be able to understand, allowing them to truly put his ideas into perspective. Although King has a demanding tone, he maintains the peaceful and unifying undertones that draw attraction to the audience; this keeps them motivated and optimistic about a better

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