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Metaphors In Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream

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On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist, delivered his renowned speech, "I Have a Dream" on the Lincoln Memorial located in Washington to millions of Americans. King relied on the use of metaphors, imagery, and anaphora to establish pathos; as well as to convey his wish to live in a country where everyone has equal civil and economic rights no matter their skin color. King employs many metaphors throughout his speech to disclose emotions that can only be represented by comparing two things. More specifically in the beginning of his speech he compares the lack of justice to a "check with insufficient funds." By doing this, King can make his audience acknowledge that the African American population has been deprived …show more content…

King starts off by repeatedly asking his audience "when will you be satisfied?"; he follows this by stating five reasons African Americans have not been satisfied. By repeating how they are still not satisfied, King makes his audience understands and remembers his reasons for wanting change in this nation which was built on the pursuit of freedom. To understand why King repeated this particular question, the audience will need to know about the racial injustices at the time along specifically about how the white population believed that African Americans should be content with what they have. Another notable example of anaphora is when King repeatedly states "Let freedom ring" to remind his audience what he is fighting for. Moreover, by doing this, King gets his message to ring inside the heads of his audience almost like a ringing …show more content…

The most notable example of imagery in his speech is when King describes his hopes for the future as "black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." This example shows Martin Luther King Jr.'s hopes for the future; he wants to live in a country where everyone sees each other as equals. Background information needed to understand this use of imagery is knowing about the discrimination occurring at the time, especially in the southern states where most of the violence occurred. By providing these specific details, the audience can virtually experience what King is demonstrating. After hearing and visualizing King's hopes for the future, the audience cannot help but feel motivated to help the world become a better place. The feeling that this imagery brings is that of inspiration, togetherness, and anticipation for a better future. The second most notable example of imagery is when King states, "Every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight." This example shows how if we work together we can accomplish anything such as ending segregation or straightening a crooked place. This use of imagery also encourages the audience to be the change they want in the world or as

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The right to fight Martin Luther King Jr. faced many difficulties when he visited Birmingham, but one he did not expect to face was the discrimination of his fellow clergymen, who stated that his decision to travel was unwise. King responded to their comment with the “Letter from Birmingham jail”. A well written piece which was eloquently written and geared to effectively prove to his peers that he deserves and has the right to be in Birmingham, having a profound effect on his audience due to his expert use of pathos, ethos, and logos. This provides a myriad of references and reasons to address the inhumanity of segregation, as well as his personal struggle to dissolve

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Martin Luther King, Jr.’s skillful and motivational I Have a Dream speech was a major turning point in America's history. King took a firm stand for equal rights as he confronted the issues of racism. King’s ambition was emphasizing his belief that someday all men could be brothers. The intensifying rise of the civil rights movement helped King’s speech produce a strong outcome on public opinion. The careful use of appeals in King’s most popular speech made it effective, recognizable, and life changing for the people that got to hear it that day and the generations to

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He evokes emotion on his audience by discussing the trials and injustice African Americans have endured. In his letter he uses examples like “when you have seen hate-filled policeman curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters.” and “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and gathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim” to make his audience envision and feel what many negroes felt while watching their families put up with this mistreatment. King provides imagery to make the audience see what it would be like to be an African American in the united

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As it may do that, it also seems to serve more of a logical appeal because he mentions the evidence of white brotherhood. There are people in the white community that are already standing hand-in-hand with them and their dreams. Just as well, King uses his aspirations to create ideas within the listeners. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning… And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America till the Negro is granted his citizenship rights (King pg. 262).

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Most people in this world aren’t born into this world alone, King knows this and reminds the clergymen and the white moderate that these people have families too. Even though slavery was abolished in 1865 racism has continued to dehumanize Black people. King has given these people an identity which humanizes them. Lastly King appeals to logos or the logical side of an argument.

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Dog attacks, verbal abuse, and the kicking of the innocent, the blacks have been through it all. Martin Luther King Jr is sitting in a jail cell during the civil rights movement from protesting for his freedom. Informative and reflective, Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” explains that blacks and whites are equal and urges the clergymen to agree with him. King effectively explains that both blacks and whites are equal and stirs up the clergymen through his tone, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical tools.

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One of major reasons the "I Have a Dream" address by Martin Luther King Jr. leaves such an enduring imprint on everyone's ears is the fact that it contains an excellent balance of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos you could call a credibility so to speak, they demonstrate that they are trustworthy. Mr. king draws on three well known people of power for this particular speech. Abraham Lincoln, US Declaration of Independence, as well as the Bible. He begins by implying Abraham Lincoln and his statue, before which he forwarded the address.

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They still were victims of police and civilian brutality; there were separate bathroom, facilities, and schools for colored people around the nation. Majority of African American citizen during that era can relate to this, they all have been through these situations for decades. King said this to appeal to the audience in order to unite them and establish what he’s saying is

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In King 's speech he talks about the past 100 years of the emancipation of slave. Even though African Americans were technically free, yet they are still discriminated and face social injustice. He uses a metaphor that

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“I Have A Dream” “I Have A Dream”, a quote that many Americans hold dear to their hearts and a quote that is remembered and is associated with an unforgettable movement in history of the Untied States of America. From 1954-1968 one of the most memorable movements in history took place and will not be forgotten is the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the many greats remembered and recognized in the movement for being an influential leader of his time. Having given over 2000 speeches, MLK(Martin Luther King) has one particular speech that stands out from the many and it is his “I Have A Dream” speech. MLK’s message being about peace, unity, fairness and freedom for and to all people shines through in this speech.

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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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The main idea of his speech is that all people were created equal and, although this is no longer the case nowadays, King felt it must be the case for the future. He argued peacefully, yet passionately and powerfully. In preparation for the speech, he studied the Bible, The Gettysburg Address and the US Declaration of Independence and he alludes to all three in his address. The intensity of King’s speech is built through parallelism, metaphors, bold statements and rhythmic repetitions:

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a prominent civil rights advocate, delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963. In his noteworthy speech, King exposed the American public to the oppression and injustice of racial inequality that African Americans have endured throughout the last century. Dr. King’s urgency for change emphasized the importance of freedom for every man, woman, and child in the country. His life’s dedication was to put an end to racism, segregation, and discrimination on the basis of race. King’s speech called for equal treatment among all Americans, not just African Americans, and underlined the significance of unity as one nation.

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Martin Luther King 's uses various literary devices such as metaphors, personification, similes, and imagery in his speech so that his audience would be able to better understand and visual what he is saying. An example of a metaphor in King 's speech is when he compares the deprivation of African American rights with "a bad check that has come back from the bank of injustice marked with insufficient funds". He states that we must cash a check that will give us the riches of freedom and security of justice. This metaphor is referring to the freedom and rights that African American 's deserve and are promised but are not given. An example of personification in his speech is "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

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