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I Have A Dream Rhetorical

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In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a document that granted African American slaves their freedom, but after one hundred years, they still were not given the freedom that was promised in the Declaration of Independence. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. uses his “I Have a Dream” speech and “Letter From Birmingham Jail” to compel people to make a change in the way African Americans are treated. Dr. King makes use of the persuasive language of logical and emotional appeal in his writings to defend African Americans’ freedom as well as to embetter the treatment of them. In Dr. King’s speech “I Have a Dream,” the rhetorical devices of logical appeal, otherwise known as logos, and emotional appeal, known as pathos, are utilized …show more content…

Dr. King uses his life experiences as a logical appeal to create an urgency to help the African Americans receive the freedom they were promised. King shares, “For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied” (para. 13). His uses of the persuasive language of logos helps to explain that African Americans have waited too long to receive the freedom they very well deserved. This evokes sympathy in the clergymen and makes them realize a change must occur. On the contrary, King utilizes emotional appeal to explain to the church officials that the way African Americans were treated does not deserve praise: “I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen…if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing out grace together, I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department” (para. 44). King implements the use of emotional appeal to convince his readers of clergymen that the Birmingham police force does not treat African Americans who were peacefully protesting as they

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Figurative language and literary devices are utilized in “Letters to Birmingham,” by Martin Luther King Jr. to persuade his fellow clergymen to understand his reasoning behind protest. Evidence from the text that correlates with his intended purpose can be seen from the statement “As in so many experiences in the past, we were confronted with blasted hopes, and the dark shadow of a deep disappointment settled upon us.” This example supports the author in getting his purpose across by using figurative languages to convey the emotions of the black community and their discontent for waiting until an agreeable time. King also uses an allusion to a famous religious member and political commentator in, “Individuals may see the moral light and give

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Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos and parallelism frequently throughout “Letters from Birmingham Jail,” to persuade the clergyman to support his actions in the civil rights movement. One example of King’s use of pathos appeals to the audience’s emotions by showing King’s confidence in his endeavors. “I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham; even if our motives are presently misunderstood... Abused and scorned through we may be, our destiny is tied with the destiny of America.” (Page 9)

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In these texts, King effectively persuades his audiences using pathos and logos. In Martin Luther King Jr. – “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he captures both pathos and logos. Dr. King

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a strong leader in the Civil Rights movement, the son and grandson of a minister, and one heck of a letter writer. As he sits in a cell of Birmingham Jail in 1963, he responds to criticism from eight white clergymen. Though this letter was intended for the judgemental and condescending men of high faith, his response touched the hearts and minds of the entire U.S. population, then, and for years to come. In his tear-jerking, mind-opening letter, King manages to completely discredit every claim made by the clergymen while keeping a polite and formal tone. Metaphors, allusions, and rhetorical questions are used in the most skillful way to support his argument and ultimately convince his audience of the credibility behind his emotional, yet factual, claims.

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One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination,” (King). He uses the phrase “one hundred years later” to reference how it has been one hundred years since the Emancipation Proclamation. However, even one hundred years after this momentous occasion for African Americans, their lives have hardly changed for the better, as they are still held down by “the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” which afflicted them all those years ago. These snippets from the speech make it evident how King often used cerebrally appealing arguments in order to convince people to help him fight for

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Amidst the intense Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and put in solitary confinement for peacefully protesting racial discrimination and injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. It was during this time that Dr. King, refusing to sit idly by, wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” one of the most inspiring documents in history. With his respectful nature, humility, compassion, optimism, and determination, King responded to a group of white Alabama clergymen who had condemned the civil rights protests as extreme in their open letter, “A Call for Unity.” Although his letter was directed towards a small group of eight men, his words eventually reached the minds and hearts of the entire country. Throughout the letter, Dr. King does a tremendous job of supporting his argument with the three elements of Aristotle’s rhetorical appeal.

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As many of us have read, it is stated in Dr. King’s speech, “But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free.” (King 1). By reading this,

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We live in a world with currently many conflicts from the racial disparity in high incarceration rates to gun violence and the war over gun rights. In his letter, King describes that Black Americans have no identity and that the oppressed cannot remain oppressed forever. King implies that they cannot be told to “wait for justice” because if they simply

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On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr gave us one of one of the most rhetorically moving speeches ever given. Titled as the “I Have a Dream Speech,” he read this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom”. As a civil right mover he gave this great speech to all Americans (black and white) so that he could give off the idea of equality on the same level. Because of his crowd of mix races King made sure to make his speech imploring to all no matter what the race that they may be. He uses metaphorical imagery, powerful diction,and symbolism to create an impact on the audience.

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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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In the two stories written by Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have A Dream”, and “Letter From Birmingham Jail” were two stories that truly impacted history. These two readings talk about one being about King Jr. tell his speech on the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., about him having a dream, where blacks and whites can unite. In both writings by King Jr., mostly in his “I Have A Dream” speech, King Jr. uses a lot of persuasive techniques, mostly pathos.

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PART A – Speech Delivery 1. Martin Luther King Jr. provides a very dramatic speaking style in his “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he alters his prosody by changing the pitch of his voice. One instance of this is when Dr. King Jr. says, “I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of ‘interposition’, and ‘nullification’ – one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today!” (7:36).

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914 Words | 4 Pages

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an extremely impactful activist during the Civil Rights Movement that gave over 2,500 speeches in his lifetime. Of these speeches, his most popular is his famous I Have a Dream speech that he gave on August 28, 1963 in Washington, D.C. during the March on Washington. Even famous speakers like Martin Luther King, Jr. use persuasive techniques to appeal to the different sides of their audiences. In order to appeal to his predominately African American audience, Martin Luther King, Jr. makes reference to Abraham Lincoln and his granting freedom to slaves by signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.

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“...when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.” (MLK, 276). King uses this strong sense of appeal to emotion to engross his readers and let them know how hard it is for them.

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