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I Have A Dream Rhetorical Essay

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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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He doesn’t want the African Americans to stop their fight for freedom, even if it might not happen a hundred years from now, hopefully it will happen in the future. King uses different rhetorical devices throughout the speech, he uses analogy the most as a logical approach. At one point in the speech he talks about how the African Americans are overdue for their check from the bank of justice, check meaning a promise for their freedom and justice. Dr. King used more of an emotional approach during the speech rather than a logical

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To start, Dr. King’s use of metaphors allows his audience to understand his viewpoint better. Since the founding of the Americas in the late 1400s, slavery was a problem; until the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. Then the segregation of African Americans and White Americans started. In his essay, Dr. King uses the metaphor “America has given the Negro people a bad check, which came back marked “insufficient funds” (46). King uses this metaphor to emphasize the treatment of African Americans in America.

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King is calling on everyone to help those in need. African Americans have a right to be tired of waiting for change. He uses emotion to make people think about what they are doing, if they

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Throughout King’s letter, he incorporated different rhetorical appeals, such as pathos, to make the audience understand the harsh treatment African Americans were subjected to each day. In his letter King emphasized, “But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society... (King 3).” This piece of evidence describes the brutality that was

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King uses pathos in his works to describe the brutality of fighting for the civil rights movement. In the text, it says “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.” This quote means that America failed the African American community, they were promised rights in the Constitution, but America never upheld their promise and never gave them rights. Dr. King uses charged language to relate to the audience by giving the analogy of a bad check and giving listeners an idea or similar experience of someone not keeping their promise or lying. On another account, King says “And if America is to be a great nation, this must be true.

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King uses banking as an analogy to put emphasis on the lack of Civil Rights in America. He suggests that the “Bank of Justice,” (6) —the American government— has defaulted on the “promissory note” (4) — the Declaration of Independence — that was signed and would grant the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all men. In saying “America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’ ” (5) King further implies that African Americans have not received the equality that they were once promised. This also creates pathos, as it causes his audience to have a mild hatred for the government and think about the corruption that has taken place that has led them to cash — as King states

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King is saying that African Americans are trapped due to the treatment of white Americans. They can’t escape the segregation, discrimination, and poverty America has put them in. Lastly, he says, “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” [King, 1963]. Martin Luther King Jr. uses euphemism in this quote.

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King's analogy of the "promissory note" drawn on the American "bank of justice" is a seemingly compellable appeal. Blacks, especially slaves, did not at first lend a hand in the guarantees of the Constitution and the Declaration, as King notes in the following statement: "It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note inasmuch as her civilians of color are concerned. " Referring to this blatant failure, King uses a logos appeal. Later, when he refers to the police brutality as well as inability as a black person to get a damn room at a hotel, he is speaking facts to buoy his argument.

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In King’s speech he says, “We have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice” (King). This section in his speech is similar to Lena Younger’s action of cashing in her insurance check to put a down payment on a house for her family. Mama, “She went out and she bought you a house”(Hansberry 91). Cashing in the check shows that this check of reality will give African Americans an opportunity for freedom and justice especially since the Younger family is the only African American family in the Clybourne Community.

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King argues that, “It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned... America has given its colored people a bad check." this instils pathos because this causes the audience to invoke pity or sadness for African Americans, thus persuading people to rethink how people are being treated by using an analogy to compare civil rights to a check that's gone bad. King uses parallel syntax in his speeches, to help the audience comprehend the point he is trying to get across.

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King’s dialect showed the audience civil right issues, involving many rhetorical strategies using ethos, logos, and pathos, to a racially tempered crowd whom he viewed as different, but not equal. From the very beginning of it , King brings his crowd back to the origin of America when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, that freed all slaves and gave hope to the former slaves. But immediately after Dr. King speaks out on how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the free will that is deserved. He points out the irony of America because Black Americans were still not truly free.

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He places the strong authority of the declaration on his side to show how the American people are in contradiction to their own “sacred obligation” and the Negros have gotten a “bad check.” A metaphor representing the unfulfilled promise of human rights for the African Americans. King skillfully evokes an emotional response from all races with the use of religion: “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.” By doing this he finds a common ground that brings black and whites closer with a common belief in God they share, as well as the mention of

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Today, the world has become more dependent on visuals for communication and as well as entertainment. A great amount of technologies are utilized in order to create visualizations and illustrations for various purposes. Technologies are rapidly innovating within the field of IT as they greatly affect almost every other fields of profession. On that account, within the field of graphic art and media, several careers fulfill the needs of communicating and entertaining, such as animation, graphic design, and photography, as they implement the use of various technologies. Although, they are categorized in the same field, these careers vary quite differently as they greatly impact the current mainstream media and personal lives.

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King’s speech through his use of logic and evidence. Dr. King says, “It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” This is an analogy. He reasons that everyone can relate to and understand this because money is such a predominant thing in life.

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Throughout his speech he implies a lot of metaphors to make his speech effective and influencing. For example, King constantly describes the Negroes as being “crippled” by the “manacles of segregation”, “Storms of Persecution,” and “chains of discrimination.” Through these metaphors King indicates the crises the Negroes face. A few of King’s strongest metaphors are his references to prejudice: “the quick sands of racial injustice”, the “heat of oppression”, “the dark and desolate valleys of segregation”, and the “chains of discrimination.” King also indicates the unbearable inequality by creating an image: “the sweltering summer of the negro’s discontent.”

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