Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech to thousands of protestors at the March on Washington D.C., in 1963. The objective of King’s is to motivate people to stand against racial discrimination. In order to achieve this purpose, the author employs the rhetorical techniques of metaphor, symbolism and anaphora, which are clearly illustrated in his fourth paragraph of Norton Sampler 8th edition by Thomas Cooley no page 635-636. The most frequently used rhetorical technique in the fourth paragraph is ‘metaphor’. In the lines, “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”(635:4), King uses metaphors. In these lines, bad check refers to the bad way Negros are seen and insufficient funds refers to the Negros being seen as less valuable. King takes the support of banking terms so he can explain that all men are equal and are equally capable of taking advantage of opportunities. By comparing to the banking terms, reader can quickly understand King’s point that racial discrimination should be abolished. The next important technique recognized is ‘anaphora’. In the lines “But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”(635:4) and “Now is the time to risen from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”(635:4) author uses ‘We refuse to believe’ and ‘Now is the time’ as anaphora. By the use of anaphora, King wants to makes it easy for the reader to identify the main focus of the speech.