Rhetorical Analysis Of I Have A Dream Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. It was late in the day and hot, and after a long march and an afternoon of speeches about federal legislation, unemployment and racial and social justice. Martin Luther King Jr. finally stepped to the lectern, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, to address the crowd of 250,000 gathered on the National Mall. The speech became synonymous with the aims of the march and the entire civil rights movement. His dream represented the dream of millions of Americans demanding a free, equal, and just nation. The speech was intended to appeal to the three types of audiences likely to be listening to King’s speech, the average blacks who are discriminated against, the average

A prime example is the use of metaphor. In Martin Luther King’s introduction, he says that “America gave the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds” and that he refuses to believe that the “bank of justice is bankrupt” and that they, the people, have come to “cash this check” because it will provide the “riches of freedom and security of justice.” While at first seemingly complex, this metaphor provides tangible and easily understood imagery for the concept Dr. King is trying to convey. The speech is a success because it uses vivid language which created strong and memorable images. He painted a vivid picture of the plight of African-Americans, “living on a lonely island of poverty during a vast ocean of material prosperity.” He talks about his faith, with which “we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. He also used evocative extended metaphor which made the message clear and memorable. For example, about cashing a check, “In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient