During the late 1960’s, Birmingham was the most segregated city in the United States. Riddled with high racial tension throughout the city, it gained its name of “Bombingham.” This was due to the fact that there were 60 unsolved bombings. With the city of Birmingham in ruins Martin Luther king was quoted in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, “I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham.” Martin Luther king used the misfortune in birmingham in order bring out reform and revamp the civil rights movement.
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.
Dr. King felt passionate about his belief that America's involvement in the Vietnam war was unjust, and decided to write a essay on the topic. Dr. King used many persuasive elements to better his chances of affecting the reader. For example, he uses factual information to push points, reasoning to back up said facts, and emotional appeal to speak to the reader on a personal level. Dr. King makes specific points on the unjust use of the poor during the war and the persistent issue of social inequality still plaguing America. Using these methods Dr. King is able to better persuade the reader on the issue at hand.
The most effective rhetorical device, I think, used by Martin Luther King is, ethos and pathos because he used the colored people's belief to get them to support him in his journey and he used their emotions to compare it to the whiteś emotion. First, Martin uses ethos,¨Like paul, i must constantly respond to the macedonian call for aid.¨ (SB Page 207) This means, in martinś speech he wisely used the belief of his people (God) to inspirate them. This is a clear example of ethos. Next Martin uses Pathos ¨We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor.”
Anaphora is when certain words or phrases are used repetitively in the beginning of sentences that are all near each other. The effect of anaphora is similar to that of the effect that parallel structure has when it comes to the balance of what is said. However, anaphora can appeal to the emotions and evoke inspiration and motivation out of the listeners, it is almost an artistic way of speaking. Scoop says he would rather do this as than that, and he would rather do that than this.
African Americans received no respect for decades and decades. No matter if you were old or young, man or a woman. You received no respect. Martin Luther King Jr. was an inspirational speaker sticking up for what was right. While dealing with the same disrespect all Negroes were receiving.
Martin Luther King Jr. uses metaphor to create more empathy, for the African-Americans who have been engulfed in the racism. “Dark clouds of prejudice...”Helps the reader visualize the impacts of prejudice. Thus, the letter created more impact on the reader. “Plunged into an abyss of injustice.” Creates empathy by allowing the reader to imagine the effects of injustice.
In Martin Luther King JR’s speech ‘I Have A Dream’, he uses many different rhetorical devices to enhance the effectiveness of his speech. One rhetorical devices he uses a lot throughout his speech is repetition. By using repetition, he leaves the audience remembering the phrases he repeated adding to the power of his speech. What made the way he used repetition so powerful is that the phrases he repeated were a summary of the main points he was trying to make. This is significant in his persuasion power because if all the audience member walked away with was all the phrases he repeated throughout his speech they would have the message he was trying to give.
Martin Luther King Jr., a minister and social activist, led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. He was an advocate for equality between all races and a civil and economic rights Activist. Because of his leadership, bravery and sacrifice to make the world a better place, Martin Luther King was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. His incredible public speaking skills and ability to properly get his message across can clearly be scene throughout the speech. Tone: Dr. King delivered his speech at the university of Oslo in Oslo Norway in front of a large group of people.
Remember the eminent speech, “I have a dream.” The very same speech which Martin Luther King Jr. gave at the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC as an inspiration to give the people who were understanding of the situation that was going on in the African American community. Martin Luther uses the rhetorical techniques to capture the attention of the people to be able to state that no one should be judge by the color of their skin, but by their moral character and personality. One of the rhetorical devices which Luther elaborates the most on is parallelism. “We will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together… (Luther 26).”
Martin Luther King Jr, an African American and Civil Rights Activist in the 1960s, fights to end segregation in his speech "I Have a Dream." He argues that African Americans lack basic rights and change must occur, he achieves this by his use of rhetorical techniques. He supports his claim by declaring that blacks lack basic civil rights that were guaranteed under the constitution, he then talks about the issues blacks face, he goes on to say change is needed, finally he concludes his speech arguing how everyone deserves freedom and must stay faithful that change will occur. Martin Luther King Jr’s purpose is to make segregation cease to exist and to have black and white be seen equally, in order to achieve this purpose he uses loaded words
A persuasion technique used by many writers and speakers is the use of rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of effective speaking or writing. Historical figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Valvano and Barack Obama effectively use rhetoric throughout their famous speeches as a persuasive technique to inform their audiences on their main points and to urge their audience on how important their topic is. Franklin D. Roosevelt uses rhetoric such as antithesis, epistrophe, anadiplosis, allusion, and pathos in his “Four Freedoms”. He uses this rhetoric to get his points across and to persuade his audience of these points.
St. Clair, Ashlyn Mr. Shipp English 1, Block 1 5/24/2023 Devices of the Dream Dr. Martin Luther King wrote his speech, “I Have a Dream” with the intent to start a peaceful revolution to allow people of color to gain their rights and freedoms back. In order to accomplish this in his speech he used many literary devices including metaphors and allusions. This essay will be touching on some of the literary devices he used and how they affected the public upon hearing it. One example of a literary device that set the tone for the speech was when he said, “This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope to millions…”, this metaphor was used to set a tone of aspiration.
The distinctive literary devices that emphasize the speech are metaphor and anaphora. The main idea of the speech is to stop racism and make the society to be a better place. “One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” He detailed that the African-American people are not treated equally also banned from the society by using metaphor to touch the emotion of the audience. Also, the audience can image the life of African-American people and know how bad the racism is from the metaphor.
Rhetorical Strategies: Letter from Birmingham In 1963, Birmingham Alabama was a place where African Americans struggled for equal rights. From segregation to discrimination, Birmingham consisted of all many injustice activities which involved civil rights. In 1963, Martin Luther King was arrested from protesting the treatment of African Americans.
