Dr. King was a Babtist minister and had been advocating nonviolence and civil disobedience. He utilized many things in his approach to the speech. The powerful setting of the Lincon monument, the man who ended slavery, his appeal to both head and heart, his vivid and metaphorical use on language, use of contrast, reenforcment and repetition, his call to action, and he ends on a powerful and hopeful note. "Free at last, free at last, Great god a-mighty, we are free at…
When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this part of his speech he intended to deliver a message instilling rebellion in his audience. Recognizing that no one likes to be talked down to, his is use of words that were not commonly used by those he spoke to, were carefully crafted to convey a feeling of respect for his audience. Because he was a Baptist pastor, he freely uses biblical references. Through the use of negative terms such as “yolk of oppression” and “negative freedom” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. discounted options to what he terms as “peaceful resistance”. Such resistance is, according to him, different from passivity and he explains how this is not the same as acceptance of oppression. Mid speech, Dr. King allows the speech the…
Martin Luther King Jr. persuades the reader of the value of civil disobedience by using logos and allusions. He uses logos in the quote: "We have some eighty-five affiliate organizations" (6). This persuades the reader with logos because then there are eighty-five organizations supporting him, it seems logical that what he is doing is right. King also utilizes allusion in his speech: "Jesus Christ... Apostle Paul... Lord... Saint Thomas Aquinas" (6-7). This persuades the reader because the names listed are very well known figures the average person…
Metaphors are another useful rhetorical method that King uses, metaphors are important to help audiences fully understand an idea as it compares an idea with something the audience is familiar with, which is important to bring out ethos. King uses a series of more difficult metaphors in the middle of his speech. He claims that by “the Constitution and Declaration of Independence,” the men that signed the Constitution were signing a promissory note that all men, whatever skin color, would be guaranteed the same rights and treated equally. Later on, King uses the metaphors “battered by the storms of persecution” and the “winds of police brutality.” (American rhetoric 2) These two metaphors both relate to ethos as the first metaphor begs the ethic…
Genre is the framework that the academic writing will be based on, and it is similar to a format where things can be expected to be appear at a certain point in writing. Genre is often determined by the rhetorical situation and can be change to increase the readability and complexity of an academic writing. Audience is part of a big rhetorical situation because rhetorical situation consists of many other factors like constraints, issue. Audience can changes the languages of the paper to adapt to the selected group of people. With restricted audience can sometimes affect the effectiveness of the paper. Rhetorical situation will the most important term to explain because it is the deciding factor for both genre and audience. Rhetorical situation is a situation where it demands a response according to Lloyd Bitzer.…
Martin Luther King Jr. uses a metaphor in his speech when he explains that, “The bank of justice is bankrupt.” He compares a “bank of justice,” to the American government and “bankruptcy” to an insufficient amount of justice in America. Bankruptcy is filed when there is inadequate resources to support an organization. This insufficiency is being compared to injustice for the Black people of America. Furthermore, King Jr. wants to acknowledge that equality and justice can and should be given to the Blacks.…
Kristopher, I enjoyed reading your discussion post. What I believe made Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. such an active speaker was his ardor. He wanted peace in a world filled with much hatred and anger. Dr. King appeals successfully to the people; by preaching peace, love, and unity. He persuaded his audience to see the future- how life could be if freedom would happen. King gave the people something to hope for; how the children of the future could unite as one.…
Martin luther king jr speech was inspirational to many people and lots of people thx him for what he did and his bravery. He said that all race should be treated the same. “ There are those who are still asking the devotees for civil rights”. I have a dream that one day the nation will rise up and live out the truth. I have a dream that one day everybody and every mankind will be treated equally.…
The key phrases that I have identified are Negro and America from the beginning sentences. The correlation that I notice with the use of these phrases is that he is expressing to the public that a change needs to occur for America to create unity and equality for the Blacks to be included in society. In the following sentences from his speech, he expresses how no change has happened over the course of time towards the Black population. “But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.” “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” These key phrases express the main objective in his speech and that is the division between the Whites and Blacks in society. Mr. King is emphasizing that Blacks are still not free in society even though slavery has been abolished. He addresses the segregation that still exists which is promoting a form of discrimination among society. The end goal of his speech was to open the eyes of the nation to identify the problem and to act on this issue of discrimination by not engaging into the problem anymore.…
I felt King’s urgency and passion through his written words because of how he included references from the Bible. King portrays this passion many time in the letter like he does in paragraph three when he writes “just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their home towns... so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for help.” I related this quote to how King pursued the civil rights movement. King…
In order to deliver a powerful speech that would move masses of people as it was his purpose, Martin Luther King performed an excellent research on the bible, the U.S constitution and The Gettysburg Address. Basing his speech on these documents allowed him to appeal to the basis by which the country of the United States was founded upon and by which society established social norms. In this way he was able to appeal to their moral, logical and emotional senses. The use of biblical…
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was well known for giving many inspiring speeches that had an affect on the American society during the 1960's. I believe his speech in 1967, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" advances the cause of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement because Dr. King is challenging the logic that both black and white Americans fight in war together but they can not sit in the same seat in the same class together in school. As well as challenging the movement of peace by speaking for the weak or the voiceless.…
Kings speech is based heavily around repetition. He uses this in the lines, One hundred years later, I have a dream and Let freedom ring. All repeated to gain suspense from the audience as well as emphasising his themes of equality and justice. King says them with such authority and power to further drive home the importance of these themes. Using his voice to create a sense of urgency about the issue.…
Michael Leff contends that King, through the use of appeals to higher authority figures, “vindicates and explains his actions,” (Leff, 2004). King draws parallels between himself and eighth-century prophets and apostle Paul carrying the word of Jesus Christ (Leff, 2004). Therefore, he is “too compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown," (King,…
Throughout our nation’s history, African Americans are consistently and involuntary forced to stand as an omnipresent representation of inferiority. Starved of a Negro consensus, white men—mostly European—began persecuting them and exalting their supposed mediocrity. Hundreds of years after this tenet hit America, an exceedingly astute preacher named Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exemplified himself as the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1900s. Notwithstanding the omnipotent fear plaguing the Negro community, Dr. King apprehends the vindictiveness of classifying the black men and women as inferior and engenders a movement. One hundred years after the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Negros still encountered perilous suppression.…