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At the level of practical sense, or civilization, there’s a human circumference, a little cultivated world with a human shape, fenced off from the jungle and inside the sea and the sky. But in the imagination anything goes that can be imagined, and the limit of the imagination is a totally human world. Here we recapture, in full consciousness, that original lost sense of identity with our surroundings, where there is nothing outside the mind of man, or something identical with the mind of man. (Frye, Metaphor)
As described, there are three levels of the mind; The level of consciousness, the level of practical sense, and the level of imagination. All of which can easily be found in King’s “I Have a Dream” but first we must understand what the levels mean to understand their role in King‘s speech..
The first level of the mind is the level of consciousness or awareness. Frye does an excellent job in describing these levels by using a shipwreck scenario to use as metaphor to these
levels. In the level of conscious awareness, you have just shipwrecked on an island and are faced with an objective world which is set against you. You are not a part of this world, nor are you yourself. There is no interaction between you and the inhabitants of this island. You feel lonely and split from …show more content…
You make your environment home and understand the difference between “me” and “everything else”. This is also the level of ordinary conversation. Anything that can be imagined, can be done.
King’s speech starts off as describing the Negro as follows: [T]he Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. […] the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. (King, Dream)
This, taken directly from King’s speech, describes Negros much like the man or woman shipwrecked on an island. King describes the Negro as living in a world against them, an objective world. Much like the first level of the mind. This was not the world the Negro wanted to live in.
In the second level of the mind, as previously stated, is knowing and understanding the world you’re living in isn’t the one you want to be living in. The objective world becomes “home”. King
As described, there are three levels of the mind; The level of consciousness, the level of practical sense, and the level of imagination. All of which can easily be found in King’s “I Have a Dream” but first we must understand what the levels mean to understand their role in King‘s speech..
The first level of the mind is the level of consciousness or awareness. Frye does an excellent job in describing these levels by using a shipwreck scenario to use as metaphor to these
levels. In the level of conscious awareness, you have just shipwrecked on an island and are faced with an objective world which is set against you. You are not a part of this world, nor are you yourself. There is no interaction between you and the inhabitants of this island. You feel lonely and split from …show more content…
You make your environment home and understand the difference between “me” and “everything else”. This is also the level of ordinary conversation. Anything that can be imagined, can be done.
King’s speech starts off as describing the Negro as follows: [T]he Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. […] the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. (King, Dream)
This, taken directly from King’s speech, describes Negros much like the man or woman shipwrecked on an island. King describes the Negro as living in a world against them, an objective world. Much like the first level of the mind. This was not the world the Negro wanted to live in.
In the second level of the mind, as previously stated, is knowing and understanding the world you’re living in isn’t the one you want to be living in. The objective world becomes “home”. King