...During the Civil Right Movement the main goal of it was to end racial inequality. According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary inequality means, “an unfair situation in which some people have more rights or better opportunities than other people.” Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” is the most compelling...
Words: 965 - Pages: 4
...Rhetorical Analysis – I Have a Dream. A speech, that will be remembered by many and be passed down from generation to generation, had shaped the future of America by the time Martin Luther King had stepped off the stage on August 28th, as he called for an end to racism in the United States during the March on Washington in 1963. This was one of, if not, the most powerful speech America has seen to this day. A beautiful way to begin! Good job! Martin Luther King stood on that stage with confidence and determination to make a change in the United States of America and it was shown through this rhetorical masterpiece titled “I Have a Dream”. The first line of the speech makes the audience aware of not only how serious he is, but also how determined and sure he is that his speech will change the civil rights in the United States of America; he could not have been more right about it. From the very first line, Martin Luther King had his audiences’ undivided attention. “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.” (Line 1-2, Page 1) His audience in this case would not only be his fellow Negroes who are still not free, but the rest of the Americans that attended the March on Washington. Little did he know that the whole world would be his audience… Good! In this first line we see him start off with using logos. He refers to the USA as “our” nation. We see this throughout the...
Words: 995 - Pages: 4
...“I Have a Dream” The 1960’s was a time of darkness for the black race, racial inequality, racism, and segregation was common throughout America.It was dark for the victims of racism until Martin Luther King Jr. showed up to fight for racial equality. During his fight for racial equality he made several significant speeches including his most famous one “I Have a Dream”. That speech was his final one but yet the most important speech of all. Even though Martin Luther’s speech was 54 years ago, his meaning still stands today as a “new age” for America. In his speech he uses rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos, and logos to help add meaning to his speech, and he also gives a patriotic tone to highlight the importance of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”...
Words: 764 - Pages: 4
...his effective speech, “I Have A Dream,” in which he expressed his ambition for peace and racial equality. The 17-minute speech was given to thousands of people at the Lincoln Memorial and televised live to millions on August 28, 1963. King urged America to acknowledge people of all races to be united and free. He used his knowledge as a preacher and used anaphora, parallelism, and historical references to grab the attention of his audience. King’s experience as a preacher and as a civil rights activist was evident in the artistry of the speech. With King’s experience as a preacher, he has given numerous sermons in his lifetime. He has formed a technique that he continuously practices in his sermons, so his audience can relate to him and make the sermon more effective. His technique includes rhetorical devices such as anaphora and parallelism. An essential element of a preacher is being charismatic. This is a part of his technique because that charm is so compelling that it inspires devotion in others. King’s charisma also affects his...
Words: 1758 - Pages: 8
...Turner Estes English 152 Thornhill 9/29/15 Justice for All The author of the “I Have a Dream” speech is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., King is well known for his efforts during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. Throughout King’s speech, he uses numerous rhetorical devices to connect to his audience to influence change in the minds of black and white Americans about equal rights. The speech was intended for a very wide variety of people and was given in Washington to possibly influence politicians. Throughout King’s, “I Have a Dream”, speech he uses purposeful repetition, alliteration, and imagery to connect with the audience on an emotional level to realize America has fallen short of its promises. Throughout Dr. King’s speech he gave in Washington D.C. he used vivid imagery to give his audience of over two hundred-thousand people a visual concept of the message he gave. This is a very powerful rhetorical device because it connects the audience by putting a visual image in their heads. In this quote King uses the words dark and valley as he tries to express how the current state of racism across America, “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” The word dark typically describes a place of little or no light and people typically do not like that. The word valley is a low place that is typically a hard spot to get out of and people don’t like being trapped either. So by King using a dark valley to...
Words: 1110 - Pages: 5
...Luther King Jr. In 1963, King gave his famous "I have a dream" speech, in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The speech's location and date signify that even after years of the emancipation proclamation being pioneered the African Americans still face discrimination in their own country. The location aids King's mission of getting his message across, which is that all people deserve equal rights and he hopes to see all Americans united. To convey his message, King uses rhetorical devices such as diction, a rhetorical question, and repetition. In the beginning of his speech, King uses diction to stress his point that even after years of African Americans being set free from their positions of slaves, they still feel like they're chained up. King uses words such as "great", 'hope", and "joyous" to describe the emancipation proclamation. The emancipation proclamation was instigated by Abraham...
Words: 718 - Pages: 3
...this category of decisions. It`s been a long while since public speakers are concerned with various dimensions of speech such as sounds, gestures, syntax, rhetoric, meanings, speech acts, moves, strategies and turns. In this paper our main focus is on the rhetoric of a speech. As we know where rhetoric is concerned we should inevitably deal with literature. In other words rhetoric is like a joint which connect literature with politics and establish a method of analyzing political speeches called polio-linguistic approach. Thus we can consider political discourses as pieces of literature. Literary techniques especially rhetorical devices serve as one of the most distinctive features of the greatest and most influential speeches of all time. There is no shortage of rhetorical devices used in these speeches, but we can prioritize them by count of repetitions in political discourses. In this study first I have represented the necessity of using these types of persuasive skills in political discourses, the methods within which politicians take advantages of these skills and the different sides of a successful speech. Then after a glance through different rhetorical devices, excerpts from four of the greatest speeches in history are provided with the rhetorical devices indicated in them. Finally a quite deep examination of the most important of these rhetorical devices is presented and the conclusion is made through comparing these samples. The primary purpose of every presenter...
Words: 4138 - Pages: 17
...Throughout American history, racism has fractured this country in many aspects. The United States is notorious for a racist history towards people of color. Why has the African-American culture been handled differently for numerous years in the United States? Martin Luther King Jr. posed this very question in his “I Have A Dream” speech to the American people. In August of 1963, Dr. King delivered the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. His speech contained multiple rhetorical devices, including repetition, allusion, imagery, symbolism, and irony. Rhetorical devices are used in order to arouse an emotion, inspire to take action, and persuade a new point of view. This speech is celebrated as one of the most inspirational speeches in history, and it served as the turning point of the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout “I Have A Dream,” Dr. King emphasizes that segregation is erroneous by utilizing different literary elements....
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
...Obama’s Victory Speech: What rhetorical devices does he use and what is the intended effect? When Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech to thousands of Americans in 1963, nobody would have thought that one day America will be led by a black president. In November 2008, 45 years later, Barack Obama was elected as the first African American president in the history of the United States. From that day on he represented the dream come true of millions of his fellow citizens. In his victory speech, Barack Obama makes use of multiple rhetoric devices, in order to catch the people’s attention, make them strive for his goals and predominantly call for unity. By a frequent use of the third person plural pronouns “we”, “us” and “our(s)”, Obama creates a sense of community and also puts himself on a level with his audience. To emphasize the role and importance of every single American for the future of the Nation, he lists some contrasting characteristics: “young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled”. All of these people play an important role and are part of the United States of America. Additionally, Obama expresses his dependence on the audience by expressions like “I cannot happen without you”. All of these devices, used to speak on behalf of the audience, create a strong feeling of unity. Furthermore, Obama chooses the rhetorical devices of anaphora...
Words: 563 - Pages: 3
...The “I Have A Dream” and “Gettysburg Address”, both president Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. address the same theme which is “freedom”. Abraham discusses his speech during the civil war and Martin Luther discusses his in the Civil Rights Era. In both of their speeches they discuss their examples of what freedom is and they convey a message of a democratic revolution. This paper will analyze the way president Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther explains their purposes and how they use rhetorical devices to give the audience a better perspective. Lincoln's purpose was to focus their attention to win the war, to honor the brave, living, and dead and to dedicate the national soldier’s cemetery to commemorate the Gettysburg battlefield....
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
...Rhetorical Analysis of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist who boldly called an end to racism in the United States. On August 28, 1963 he delivered a speech in front of more than 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; a speech that became famous for its inspiration; a speech that was a defining moment for the American Civil Rights Movement; a speech plainly known as “I Have a Dream.” This infamous speech was so influential and moving because of the many rhetorical devices and appeals used that effectively related to the emotions and knowledge of the common people. Techniques used so beautifully and words spoken so genuinely that the hearts of those listening...
Words: 1152 - Pages: 5
...A Rhetorical Analysis of MLK Jr.’s “I have a dream” Speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, one hundred years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which outstandingly furthered the civil rights movement. At that time, racial segregation, police brutality, and other forms of racial inequality were terribly prominent in America. The speech successfully focused the country’s attention at the need for racial equality “Now” (King, I Have a Dream). King gave the speech in order to motivate his followers to peacefully continue to demonstrate, protest, and boycott until they were fully granted the equality and privileges that any other citizen was allowed to have. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech is his most notable, and one of the most influential of Twentieth-Century-America because of his excellent rhetorical use of repetition and anaphora, contrasting metaphors, and appropriate quotations and allusions throughout the speech. Martin Luther King Jr. used a profuse amount of repetition and anaphora throughout his speech. A subtle form of repetition, the repetition of singular words, was mainly used to emphasize key themes in the speech and keep them in the minds of the audience. Such repeated key themes were “freedom”, “justice” and “injustice”, “America” and “American”, and plural nouns such as “we” and “our”. Since the preceding words were repeated so frequently...
Words: 847 - Pages: 4
...Final Rhetorical Analysis Martin Luther King, Jr. Was an African American, nonviolent, civil rights activist and leader from 1956 until his tragic passing in 1986. On August 28, 1963 King proudly presented his well-known “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, one hundred years after former President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation as well as delivered his prominent speech, the Gettysburg Address. King’s purpose of his speech was an intended aspiration to aim at the white population to advocate for the justices of African Americans as well as to encourage the nation to not stand alone but together for the rights appointed to each citizen under the Constitution. King accomplishes his ambition for his speech as he uses different rhetorical devices with his audience such as: ethos, logos, and pathos, as well as using several different figurative language techniques that include, allusion, anaphora, diction, and metaphors. King begins his speech contended and determined, as he explains this specific day will be one remembered forever. His use of archaic...
Words: 1244 - Pages: 5
...Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s Speech “I Have a Dream” Likita M. Taylor ITT-Tech English 1320: Composition I November 12 2012 Rhetorical Analysis of Martin Luther King’s Speech “I Have a Dream” “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.” These are the opening words of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech”, which he predicted will be the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement and the turning point in finally ending segregation. Time and time again, his speech is credited as being “one of the most successful and most legendary speeches in United States history.”(Martin, 2010, 10 par 1). He was an astonishing, intelligent speaker who often relied on using strong rhetoric devices to get his message across. Through his articulate use of logos, pathos, and ethos, King was able to persuade his generation that "the Negro is not free.” (Martin 2001 par3). His speech became the rallying cry for civil rights and lives on to this day as a perpetual masterpiece. Before one can really understand the analysis of his speech, it is important to understand King’s arguments. His main point is that blacks are not free or equal according to the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. He argues that African-Americans must claim their full rights and demand liberation from inequality and suppression. King's audience is not only Black Americans, but his message...
Words: 794 - Pages: 4
...would stand up, Martin Luther said, ‘’We have no alternative but to protest. We come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice. ‘’ I believe, that he gave his people the strength and courage they needed to stand up for themselves. It is my belief that their civil rights, were so harsh and not fair at all. King continued organization’s until he believed they got what he and his people truly deserve. King applies the rhetorical devices throughout his speech. King creates ethos in several instances. Ethos is that appeal that creates trust, leadership, and authority. When king alludes to Lincoln, Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation,...
Words: 548 - Pages: 3
