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Martin luther king jr i have a dream speech analysis
Martin luther king jr i have a dream speech analysis
Martin luther king jr i have a dream speech analysis
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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” –Martin Luther King Jr stated. In other words, no matter what you look like, your beliefs, etc, everyone everywhere should be treated equally and freedom to all. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech, that was the point he was trying to get across. King uses rhetorical appeals and figurative language to persuade the audience that equality and freedom should be for everyone.
Firstly, the King of the. Jr. utilizes the repetition throughout his speech to gain the attention of the audience; he utilizes the words “freedom,” “justice,” and “equality.” King utilizes these to emphasize that his speech is about his dream to have freedom and equality amongst all races, religions, backgrounds, etc, and how he dreams of having a free and equal
They were much more likely to want things to change when they heard him describe the situation this way. Another rhetorical device used by King was anaphoras. An anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the start of several clauses to create emphasis. King’s best use of this begins in the very title of his speech. He declared to his audience, “I have a dream that one day… sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
King uses anaphoras in his speech to get a powerful reaction out of his audience. Anaphoras show the audience how important a certain idea or concept is. Such as,” Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
In this letter, King uses logos, or writes in a logical manner because of the people he is speaking to. Since the letter is aimed at clergymen, he writes using formal diction. For instance, King used more complex vocabulary such as “democratically,” “existential,” and “paternalistically.” Furthermore, he uses figurative language.
King incorporated pathos in his I Have A Dream Speech in order to evoke different forms of emotion into his audience and have an effective speech. He states that the African American people “can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: ‘For Whites Only. ’”(American Rhetoric: I Have A Dream Speech 1) as long as the American people don’t to try and change segregation. By using children as a form of pathos, King evokes fear and sadness into his audience. He has also placed a wanting to change, so children won’t have to go through the suffering and pain that their parents or other relatives went through.
King during his speech. This speech has as many as eight anaphoras. The most famous of them is “I have a dream” this is repeated in the beginning of eight consecutive sentences. Anaphora’s used by Mr. King helped impact his audience more with each successive repetition of the theme words. Besides his usage of metaphors and anaphora’s, King makes good use of another figure of speech called allusion (an indirect or passing reference) in his speech.
There is a disagreement in society. It is a disagreement and an argument that has been continuing for many generations, and will continue for many generations after this one. It is a disagreement of oppression, a disagreement of injustice, a disagreement of racial discrimination. This disagreement had been discussed, and argued as well as against it has even been written about. In Martin Luther King Junior’s ‘I have a dream speech’ this racial disagreement is discussed and spoken about in front of thousands of people and became one of the most referenced and influential speeches in history.
King and Malcolm both use anaphora for the same reasons, driving their points, but King uses his with more uplifting emotions. King states, “I have a dream,” (12-19) several times to keep us stopped at the fact that there can be a better future. He says this many times to drive his point and make it stick with us that there is something better. This particular quote is an example of how he uses impressive word choice to inspire and create hope. Another example of King’s use of anaphora is, “One hundred years later…” (2) repeated several times.
One time we see King use anaphora is when he was repeating the phrase throughout the first paragraph, “One hundred years later”. King chooses this phrase to repeat to present his claim that after the negros saw hope that the emancipation proclamation would bring them freedom, one hundred years later they still are not free. In the speech, King quotes, “ This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope to millions of negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later the Negro is still not free.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an important influential person in our history. He wrote not only the historic “I Have a Dream” speech, but he also wrote a letter while in the Birmingham jail. These two pieces of writing have impacted many and have appealed to the readers emotions and used logic to persuade people. These appeals were found in both the letter and in the speech but which one was more emotional and which one was more logical? Let 's start by talking about the logical appeals in the speech.
At the 1963 March on Washington, American Baptist minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of his most famous speeches in history on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the height of the African American civil rights movement. King maintains an overall passionate tone throughout the speech, but in the beginning, he projected a more urgent, cautionary, earnest, and reverent tone to set the audience up for his message. Towards the end, his tone becomes more hopeful, optimistic, and uplifting to inspire his audience to listen to his message: take action against racial segregation and discrimination in a peaceful manner. Targeting black and white Americans with Christian beliefs, King exposes the American public to the injustice
A classic example of this in the speech is the sentence (and title of the speech) “I have a dream”. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed… I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judge by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (p. 3 l. 7) King is throughout the speech using pronouns like ‘we, our, us’. This drags in the audience and adds more credibility to King, as the speech seems more
Abortion is a very polarizing topic in America. People have definitive views on the subject. Many in the United States regard this as one of the most important topics to be addressed and politician’s develop entire campaigns around abortion knowing they will gain votes entirely because of their stance on the topic. Anti-choice advocates believe that abortion is nothing less than murder. Christians believe in the existence of the soul, and the abortion dispute is fueled by the religious conviction that life begins at conception.
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he does not just use logic, he also uses emotion. When King was giving his speech, not a lot of people were there to hear him in person. King’s speech was not extremely famous when he first gave it; it was not until later that it became known. If he were to just use one, logic or emotion, people would listen but not continue supporting him for long. When using logic and emotion people, will hear him out and understand he means what he says and that he has examples to back up what he includes in his speech.
