Pathos In Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

Standing there at the Lincoln Memorial people could hear a man talking about civil rights movements. They feel the hot air on their skin, from the August day. They could see the thousands of people standing around them listening to history being made. They could smell the grass that surrounded them. All these people were gathered at this place to fight for equality for all races. They were there to listen to people give them hope that someday everything would be equal for everyone. These people came to see the famous “I Have a Dream” Speech. Through figures of speech, syntax, and imagery Martin Luther King evokes pathos in his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Through figures of speech, King appeals to Pathos. Martin Luther in his speech uses many analogies

Martin Luther King uses a lot of repetition throughout his speech. He uses the words "I have a dream" as so,“ I have a dream that one day…I have a dream that one day…” (King 50) He repeats this statement many times throughout the speech. This is probably why it is the name of the speech. King tells the audience to go to their home in hopes that things will be different. He repeats “Go back to Mississippi. Go back to Alabama. Go back to South Carolina. Go back to Georgia. Go back to Louisiana” (King 50) This is syntax because even though it is not stating the exact words over and over again, it is still using the beginning part “Go back to…”. Another part of Luther’s speech that has syntax is when he repeats, “free at last” (King 51). He says this a lot towards the end of his speech. He says this referring to how they are no longer slaves and someday they will no longer be constrained to what, where, and how they live their lives. Such as where they can sit in a restaurant or a bus. With these pieces of evidence Luther uses syntax by repeating a lot of what he has said, trying to make sure that people really know what he is talking about, and so that it can really sink in. He also uses pathos by trying to talk about things that make them feel like the speech is about them. Such as when earlier he was talking about going back to the places that people might have been from. These can make the people feel

Dr. King in his speech uses imagery when he delivers the statement, “little black boys and black girls will be able to join with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King). This is a type of light and dark imagery. It’s showing that he wants everyone to be seen as equal, even though so many horrible things have happened to African Americans by, white people, he still wants equality for them too. He wants it for every person. Another piece of imagery used it when King exclaims a, “Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” (King 48) This imagery is used to show that many african americans felt that they are alone in a world, because they were treated differently than everyone else. Martin Luther King JR. proclaims. “This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering” (King 48) He says this to show that even though they probably went through some hard times that there is finally an end in sight and that things will get better for them, and hopefully that there would be no racism or separation. Throughout King's use of imagery he also uses pathos. He is using pathos by trying to get the audience to really think about what he is saying, and he does that by using very detailed imagery. He paints these pictures in peoples head about what has been going on for so long