A few times in his speech, he chooses to repeat certain things in order to emphasize how important it is for the nation to be united and not divided by race or anything at all. King repeats certain things in hopes that the reader will have thoughts focused on the prominent issues of racism happening at the time. Issues such as those previously mentioned as, racism, segregation, unjust treatment of African American because of their skin color, etc. The effect that this repetition had on African Americans was very significant. The purpose of the repetition was to uplift and empower African Americans all across the nation so that they would not give up and continue to fight for their freedom because if they stop now, they will never get the just treatment that they deserve.
Though they were not physically in chains any longer they were still in the figurative chains of discrimination. He preached to the crowd that they were all gathered because they had a check that needed to be cashed (I Have a Dream, 1963). He was referring to blacks being owed liberation. This meant that they had been enslaved and mistreated for so long that they deserved to be free at last, it was their constitutional right and that they need to demand this equality. Though he encouraged them to take control, he stressed that it must be done in a way that was peaceful.
Both their speeches, “I Have a Dream” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” may have shared some common traits, but at the same time, differed greatly in various aspects. Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream” is vastly recognized as one of the best speeches ever given. His passionate demand for racial justice and an integrated society became popular throughout the Black community. His words proved to give the nation a new vocabulary to express what was happening to them. Martin was famously a pacifist, so in his speech, he advocated peaceful protesting and passively fighting against racial segregation.
One phase he said over and over again was “I have a dream...” He repeated this phrase to convince everyone listening that he believed that one day blacks and whites would live in harmony together and segregation would be a thing of the past. He wanted everyone to believe that it was possible, they just had to push for a change. Later, at the end of his speech, he said, “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’” By the time he got to the end, he was practically yelling at the crowd because he felt so strongly that one day all his hopes and dreams would all come true and justice would come and he wanted them to never give up on that dream.
The phrase “I have a dream…”(King) is preceded by dreams of a better future by each and every Black person in America. In each line containing this clause, a stronger hope for unity, equality, and freedom is established in the hearts of the Negro population. The most effective form of repetition used in the speech is also used as a allusion to a well-known American song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” The one, short phrase used from the song is succeeded by different mountains of different states to convey a nationwide moral. “Let freedom ring…”(King) reiterates Martin Luther King Jr.’s proclamation of equality between all Americans. Also, the remains of each sentence with this idiom are references to height, to
Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech is the epitome of this idea. In his oration, King narrates his hopes for the future by repeatedly saying “I have a dream”, followed by his dreams, such as equal rights for his children or America rising up to the “true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” King wants the audience to connect to his thoughts and contemplate his ideas. In order to do this, he mentions his personal dreams and aspirations for the future of racial equality to convey his message. This strategy of using dreams in oratory was demonstrated by the narrator in the Invisible Man. When the narrator delivers his speech in front of the Brotherhood, he attempts to unite them by sharing his dream.
There might not be a segregated society were two races are divided by laws, but, yet racial discrimination does exist even to this day. Stereotypes are another challenges that need to be fought like Martin Luther King Jr. fought racial segregation. The biggest stereotype that the world faces today is the comparison of particular religions with terrorism. Such stereotypes are the biggest threat to global citizenship and need to be fought with the same ideals of equality and compassion that Martin Luther King believed in. Martin Luther King would have never advocated dividing and pushing away people of other religions.
Martin Luther King Jr. was inspired by Gandhi because he made Martin Luther King Jr. believe in nonviolent protesting. “‘It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking’” (Martin Luther King Jr.). In addition, another person that inspired Martin Luther King Jr. was Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln inspired Martin Luther King Jr. because they both wanted equality for African Americans. To continue, there was a bunch of poets Martin Luther King Jr. was inspired by.
Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses both the black and white communities to live in peace, by using powerful diction, he describes both sides in different ways but with one only purpose; to touch the heart of the audience and convey to them that a world where whites and blacks can live in peace is possible. Also, Luther King’s speech is full of repetitions, that allow him to reaffirm his point of view. For instance, he uses anaphora in different sentences, like “One hundred years later” or “Now is the time” to call for attention and interest of the audience, while the stanza “Let freedom ring[...]” creates a more rhythmical sound over the end of his speech. After getting the audience’s attention, Dr. King proceeded to persuade and get into the feelings of the people. That is why, Dr. King’s emotionally charged diction conveyed the entire world that racism and segregation were hurting the black society.
There was always a new, better place for the whites to go to, and an ugly, old place for colored people to go to. Gandhi inspired King, Jr. to use passive resistance. He thought that was the best way to gain freedom and independence, just like how Gandhi had earned Indian independence. Dr. King was a doctor in theology, had a degree in sociology, and was a minister. He, along with other African Americans, went on protests, boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, and marches to “embarrass ” the United States and end segregation.