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Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech

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In a society where one’s country has the ability to enforce the seclusion of the “equal and unalienable rights” of its people based on the color of their skin is one in which change has to be demanded. Having to be constantly petrified of the idea of walking down the street due to the possibility of being lynched by the Ku Klux Klan and the constant stigmatism of the “Jim Crow Laws” provoked Martin Luther King Jr. to fight for this change. Consequently, Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister and leader of the civil rights movement, impressively delivered his prominent “I Have a Dream” speech. His passion was not only noticeably demonstrated on the day he delivered his ideas, but also on the written words that can be seen today. In this work, Dr. King effectively uses the rhetorical appeal, Pathos, with his implementation of anaphora, parallelism and metaphors. Martin Luther King Jr.’s success in addressing the injustice and discrimination imposed on Black Americans is heavily dependent on the usage of Pathos. He successfully evokes emotional response and influences the audience with his own …show more content…

uses parallelism to create comparable effects as those of anaphora. In a unified combination, the excerpt, “Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York…,” uses parallelism due to the structure of language in order to create a hidden effect of continuity. The continuity of structure generates rhythm within the speech, consequently, making points easier to remember. In addition, M.L.K. implements parallelism in the selection, “…to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together…,” in order to emphasize the idea of unity within the nation once again. The combination of anaphora and parallelism create a strong effect of pathos by altering the reader’s perception of the content being

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