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Martin Luther King Speech Rhetorical Devices

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The United States was very prominent with the racism and unjust treatment of African Americans in the 20th century. Because of the law that was corrupt and because of the victimization of African Americans, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on August 28, 1963. He gave a speech to thousands of people in order to end segregation, racism, and the unjust treatment of African Americans. Not only did King have a goal to end racism across the nation, but he fought so that there would be equal rights throughout the nation as well. King uses rhetorical features such as repetition, metaphors, allusion, hyperbole, along with both ethos and pathos throughout his speech. During the time of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, there …show more content…

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. African Americans fought for their freedom and did not give up because they wanted the chance to one day be free. In his speech Kings says “go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana” the purpose of stating these specific countries is because those were the places where slavery was most prominent at the

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