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

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In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech called “I Have a Dream”, delivered in 1963, he expresses and shares his thought that all races should have both political and social justice and the same freedom and rights. This speech, which was given in Washington D.C., recognizes the injustice in America at the time and King also paints a dream of a society with no inferiority of African-Americans. King effectively shares his ideas and dreams of America with no segregation by employing anaphora and a strong and descriptive diction style.
The famous “I Have a Dream” speech is well-known for King’s repetition of phrases in the beginning of each sentence, also known as anaphora. For example, he repeats the phrase “Now is the time” several times. By repeating
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was a very influential man on America, but especially on the African-American community. Throughout his speech, his selection of words, or diction, it's very descriptive with a heavy connotation. In the beginning of the famous speech, he illustrates the unfairness that the African-Americans suffered through by saying, “Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.” Words like “seared”, “flames”, and “withering” are negatively connotated and give off a mood of pain and brutality. King uses these strong words in order to present how harsh the white people have treated African-Americans throughout history and to also emphasize the cruelty they have experienced. Additionally, King describes the goodness of change by saying, “with this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony orchestra.” The selection of positively connotated words like “faith”, “beautiful”, and “symphony orchestra” demonstrates how a change in the current society towards equality for all races is extremely ideal. King employs these words to present how corrupt the system is currently and then illustrates and said how beautiful peace and harmony between all people is. This positive phrase influences change and makes it look good. Martin Luther King Jr.'s genius diction style influenced the way Americans could view the current society and see the injustice.
To conclude, the well-known speech by Martin Luther King

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