I have a dream rhetorical analysis “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed- we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” This is a famous quote given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr from his speech I have a dream. On August 28, 1963, 200,000 people gathered around at the Lincoln Memorial after the March on Washington for jobs and freedom. This is where King given his speech about all the “black” people should rally together and fight for their future. He said “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” to show how excited his is to get involve in such an important …show more content…
The situation of all the black people is not optimistic, and its time to make a move. However, the power of Dr. king himself is far not enough and he needs every black people to join him and fight for this together. Dr. Martin Luther King attempts to influence the audience’s feeling by using some emotional appeal. A phrase like this “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He uses the phrase like “not judge by” in order to gain his audience’s attention. This phrase gives his audience a brighter life to look forward to, to show people that there is hope in the future. A life without discrimination and segregation, it offers people images and this drive people to fight for it. He also mentioned children in his phrase, by mentioning children, he meant to imply that your children might not suffer the same things you’ve experience if you fight for you right. Moreover, he tries to evoke people’s feeling by using the same phrase again and again. He uses emotional appeal by repeating a powerful phrase “I have a dream”. The word dream can have defined as “A dream is successions of images for the brighter future”. By repeating this phrase, Dr. king attempt to gives people a chance
Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, was well known for his nonviolent movement to bring justice and to an end to the segregation of the people in the United States back in the 1950s. With King being the leader of a peaceful protest, it failed to bring equally to the colored people. Martin Luther King, Jr. was labeled as an “outsider” who was “hatred and violence” and that his actions were “unwise and untimely” from the Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen (clergymen). In response, on the day of April 16, 1963, he wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to declare and defense his movement was not “unwise and untimely” at all. To analyze his points, King used the powerful literary devices of pathos- use of an emotional appeal.ethos-
King proceeds to the latter part of his speech by declaring the need for peaceful resistance. His analogies of man “carving highways of death in the stratosphere” (3) and how non peaceful defiance will contribute to “a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation” (3) soundly depicts his ideals of how African Americans should reach true freedom and equality only through pacifism. He mandates this passiveness in order to bring about change insightfully because his goal is not to wage war against their oppressors but to defeat the evil sentiment held by the nation. King’s remarkable aptitude and brilliant intuition in his dialogue enables the reader to appreciate and concede to his ideals.
Martin Luther King uses a lot of repetition in his speech. They are scattered throughout but very close. One of the repetitions in his speech is “I have a dream.” He uses this phrase to show what he sees in the future of America. One of the phrases he uses with it is: “I have a dream that one day this nation will and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” Another is “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their nature. I have a dream today.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 12) Two other repetitions he uses is “Let freedom ring” and “Free at last.” (King, M. L. Jr. (1963, Aug.28) Para 16&17)
In Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech, “I Have a Dream,” Dr. King addresses the nation in the March on Washington during one of America’s most fragile and dark times. King carries on his shoulders the responsibility of bringing a broken nation back together. He attempts to appeal to his audience of several thousand people through his use of logos, ethos, and pathos. King understands the importance of his opportunity; he needs to capture the attention and grab the heartstrings of his massive audience of people from all walks of life.
He is very optimistic about his speech in the first line. However, he bluntly addressed the issues of hardship, which African-Americans endured while America was beginning to become a stronger symbol of hope and freedom. He acknowledged the experience of wealth which his race became accustomed to, the ghetto poverty. He recognized the right of each color and pale man who contains the right to live, liberty, and the pursuit of true happiness. As bluntly as he began his speech, he boldly pointed out the Supreme Law of The Land- the Constitution - and quoted the Declaration of Independence as it was.
In King's Letter, he clearly states his views and beliefs to not only stand up for himself, but also to stand up for equality and justice for all. His actions also show his commitment to his belief. King later goes on to tell how he was going to achieve his goal. He states that he will be doing it in a non-violent manner which was influenced by Mahatma Ghandi. He also says that this will be done in a well-thought-out, civilized manner. Next, he begins to show them some of the actions that the police force took, such as letting dogs loose on the people and their harsh treatment of the people. Dr. King states that he saw the dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. They refused the give them food because they wanted to sing
In Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, King makes use of an innumerable amount of rhetorical devices that augment the overall understanding and flow of the speech. King makes the audience feel an immense amount of emotion due to the outstanding use of pathos in his speech. King also generates a vast use of rhetorical devices including allusion, anaphora, and antithesis. The way that King conducted his speech adds to the comprehension and gives the effect that he wants to rise above the injustices of racism and segregation that so many people are subjected to on a daily basis.
He mentions the very recent violence that occurred in Selma, Alabama; where African Americans were attacked by police while preparing to march to Montgomery to protest voting rights discrimination. Without mentioning this violent event that occurred a week prior, there would not be much timeliness to his argument, and it wouldn’t have been as effective. The timeliness of his argument gave the speech a lot more meaning, and it heightened the emotions of many who heard the address. He is appealing to the emotions of many American people, both Congressmen and ordinary citizens, to encourage them to support his cause. He reminds us of all of the Americans around the world that are risking their lives for our freedom.
On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous and powerful speech I Have a Dream, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The purpose of his speech was to fight for the civil rights, equality, and to stop the discrimination against African-American people. His use of imagery, repetition, and metaphor in his speech had created an impact with his audience. King used the three rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos and logos to help the audience understand the message of his speech.
The very title of his speech was probably taken from his use of anaphora which was present throughout his speech. "I have a dream that one day the nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed¡K that all men are created equal." For the next few lines of his speech he repeated these words, "I have a dream," which helped arouse emotion in his audience and give them hope. This hope was that they would one day be treated as equals and walk side by side with the all other races. King uses his the phrase "I have a dream today," twice as its own paragraph. This statement was probably spoken with great emphasis since it gave the listeners the desire to change "today" instead of continuing to be discriminated against. Martin Luther King's speech could have very well been titled something else but because of his use of anaphora which strongly emphasized these words it earned itself the title "I Have a Dream."
Dr. King uses ethos, logos, and pathos effectively throughout his letter to address a large audience. He intertwines the three rhetorical strategies seamlessly to support his argument. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has his critics in the clergy who argue against his civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, he effectively uses all three types of rhetorical strategies to effective persuade his critics by explaining why his actions are just and timely in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
of the Lincoln Memorial. His speech addresses civil rights and the struggles of racial diversity and
He starts off by stating there are contradictions that lay within the nation. He explains that before the war, the country was living oppressed and the motives for the war was equality and freedom for all. When he says “ But that days has happily
We all have heard of Martin Luther King Jrs speech “I Have A Dream”,, unless you perhaps live under a rock. This powerful speech will be broken down and analyzed by myself in the next few pages to really dive deeper into how beautifully this was written. The speech was given prior to the March on Washington, a peaceful protest about human equality for African Americans at one of the largest civil rights movement in history. Over 250,000 people stood before MLK jr. in Washington, D.C.
I Have a Dream was a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. This speech was delivered on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The speech was intended for the 250,000 civil rights supporters that attended. The speech addressed the topic of equality for the African Americans and the White people. The purpose of the speech was to address the issues of segregation and racism as a whole. King speaks about the issues of racism and segregation in America during the 1960’s. He encourages the use of non-violent protests and to fight for equality to help America solve the issue.