Considered to be one of the most famous and powerful speeches ever spoken, “I Have a Dream” has had a very strong impact on the world we live in today. Martin Luther King Jr. lived in a time when segregation was still going on and racism was still prominent in the United States. King would learn about racism at a young age. When he was young he became friends with a white kid, and when they were six the white boy’s father prohibited his son from being friends with King due to his racial beliefs. His life was tough; he developed depression during his teenage years. Facing racism his entire life, and seeing the kind of harm and pain it brings, he eventually became a civil rights activist. His “I Have a Dream” speech is widely considered to be one of the most impactful speeches ever given as it has changed the way Americans view their ideas on racism and is a big reason why segregation is not still a large practice today. The “I Have a Dream” speech was given at the Washington D.C. Civil Rights March in 1963. The speech includes many allusions to other texts and speeches as well. Even though it may be easy to speak of what King’s speech entails and what it means, there are many different literary pieces and different literary techniques and elements that King uses in his speech that makes his speech much more captivating. …show more content…
He tries to draw a relationship and show that his being on that stage giving that big speech doesn’t make him any different from anyone else. When King says this it gets the crowd to feel more relatable to him and thus makes them want to listen to what he has to say because he is no bigger than anyone