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Larry Dicus
Rhett 1312
Ive been to the Mountaintop Rhetorical Analysis
2/15/2016

A quote I was told as a child that I still remember is The worth of a man is the sum of
his words. Martin Luther King Jr. was an academically and socially brilliant man who believed
strongly in non-violent methods to get points across. When one does not use violence, they must
use words. Dr. King was a man full of words both hopeful for a better future, and disgusted at
how the people of his time treated others for one's skin color. I am analyzing the text Ive Been
to the Mountaintop. The text is the speech Martin Luther King Jr. made at Memphis, Tennessee,
April 3, 1968 about the escalating racism that has been happening at the time. The speech has
many ways to be interrupted, but most would say it is one of the most influential American
speeches made at that point in history. This speech was intended for all humans. This speech was
meant for everyone to listen to as the speaker was trying to dissuade the acts of discrimination in
his time period, so making a discriminating speech would be hypocritical on so many levels. Dr.
King shows that he is a credible speaker by using facts of this time period, and relating them to
earlier time periods; his words affect the audience in a positive way by telling them facts about
them, their facts about their future, and the fact that a child from another race was glad he did not
sneeze; being in the time period that was affected by this speech, most would say it worked, and
that it cannot be better. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the speech Dr. King made on April 3,
1986 for all its strengths and flaws.

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The credibility of Dr. King has been shown in multiple ways through this text, and his life
time. At the beginning of the speech, he says
I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch Gods children in their
magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through or rather across the Red Sea. I
would move by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato,
Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon.
Hes explaining how if God were to give him a panoramic view of humanity through the ages, he
would not only want to watch the brilliants mind of a previous era, he would also want to see the
defeat of a horrible nightmare another discriminated race had to endure. Later, he says If you
allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy. But I
know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. for him to say that
shows how much belief he has in humans to change; that the fight for social justice is a worthy
cause, and not a worthless childish wish. During his lifetime, he proved that nonviolent combat
against racial inequality was an extraordinary cause by being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. By
being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, that further boosted his credibility.
The words of Dr. King have been so influential, that professors to this day still show their
students his rhetoric. Dr. King shows how he had to struggle through the dark times as well as
the good. He tells us how by saying
You know, several years ago I was in New York City, autographing the first book that I
had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came
up, and the only question I heard from her was, Are you Martin Luther King? And I
was looking down writing, and I said, Yes. The next minute I felt something beating
on my chest. Before I knew it, I had been stabbed by this demented woman. It was a

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dark Saturday afternoon. it came out in the New York Times the next morning that if I
had merely sneezed, I would have died.
Dr. King was such an affecting man, that a white woman in the 9th grade made the effort to
write to him and tell him that she was glad he did not sneeze. If you listen to the video of the
speech, you can also hear the audience cheer after the line But we just went before the dogs
singing, Aint gonna let nobody turn me around..
As a brilliant man of his time, Martin Luther King Jr. equally displayed logos and kairos
in his speech. Dr. King told us where he would go if he was given a chance to have a panoramic
view of humanity. The locations he stated follow time in a logical order, from Ancient Egypt to
the Romans and Greeks to his own time period in the 20th century. Adding to that statement,
when he transitioned through one time period to another he would say But I would not stop
there.. He is basically saying that even though those are amazing times, he would not want to
live in those times, nor in the future to see his work unfolded because his current time is the
place for him. The current time, has work that needs to be done, and he is trying to tell his
audience that they should not give that up for anything. A statement my current Composition II
professor has said and I agree with, was that this speech was made in a perfect time for Dr. King.
Not only was he aware of death being an issue for him, but he also was aware that if he did not
make this speech his cause might falter when he dies. To further display Dr. Kings use of logos,
he told the audience about the details newspapers missed about a strike in Memphis.
You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the windowbreaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one
thousand three hundred sanitation workers are on strike, and that Memphis is not being

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fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didnt get around to
that.
He told them his knowledge of events that the media was hiding to further persuade them against
the use of violence.
To read the text, and listen to the speech were both inspirational experiences. Martin
Luther King Jr. attempted to persuade his audience to keep up the good fight. He attempted to
them to stay peaceful, and to never regret what they are doing for a better tomorrow. The
achievements he has attained throughout his life have made him a credible speaker. The
experiences he shared such as being stabbed by a woman of color, and being cheered up by a
white woman of tomorrows generation gained applause towards the nonviolent cause. His use of
facts over the Memphis protest further show how the media will twist a scene when violence is
used. These are some reasons why Ive Been to the Mountaintop is an effective use to further
is message.