Metaphors In Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the most prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a time when the African-Americans stood up for themselves lead by powerful figures. They were also supported by others who thought that African-Americans deserved their rights. Martin Luther King, also known as King, was the foremost leader. He was a pacifist and believed in change in the United States through peaceful protests, not violence. An example of peaceful protest is a march, a demonstration of this is the March on Washington. During this march, he gave a speech in front of the White House called the “I Have a Dream...” speech. He wanted to pressure the government to give the African-Americans their well deserved rights. Martin

Metaphors are comparisons between two unlike objects without using the words “like” or “as”. This literary element is used to make the audience of the metaphor feel a certain emotion or make the phrase more visual. They use it when there is not an acceptable word in place of the metaphor. Dr. King used metaphors so his audience would feel the emotions of disgust and depression and to make the audience more understanding of the situation that the African-Americans are in. For example, a metaphor Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream...” speech read, “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” The metaphor is presented to show how restricted the lives of the African-Americans were. Without the metaphor the sentence wouldn’t hold as much meaning as it does now. It makes people imagine how bad the lives of the African-Americans were. The metaphor brings out the emotion of disgust at how the African-Americans’ lives are, and makes the audience want to help make the their lives better. If the metaphor wasn’t there the sentence wouldn’t make people