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Manuel Gonzalez

CMST 220
Erin Davison
12-08-17

I have a dream speech

Only 15 minutes were enough for Martin Luther King to perform one of the

most valuable discursive gems in the recent history. His words have adhered to the

minds of almost every American and beyond. It was a warm afternoon of summer

in Washington DC. It looked as if Martin Luther King and his crew have had a plan

to perform the impressive discourse with the perfect conditions around them to

succeed. There is no perfect speech, but it is very opportune, clear and capable of

influencing the belief system of its audience and its environment, as happened with

this speech. He uses logical arguments with credibility and appealing to the

emotions of the demonstrators. The words written in his piece of paper were felt

not only by their ears that have listened them, but for their skin that has felt the hot

weather and the recent circumstances after the exhaustive march to associate the

metaphors he has used. Also their eyes, that have seen the perfect location under

the shadow of the Lincoln monument, and the way how Luther King uses the

expressions of his face to feel the words while they are coming out of his mouth.

This speech accomplishes the possible main objective planned by Martin Luther

King, which is to promote a change between whites and blacks, to eradicate

racism, but in a peaceful way, and demonstrate that there is a more effective way

to change things. It is with the transformation of ideologies and not with violence.

To start, Martin Luther king performs his speech using different strategies to

give more importance to his arguments. For example, he uses metaphors in a way
to make easier to understand some concepts that may be difficult to understand

and contrast them with their counterpart. Like when he compares a check with

insufficient funds with the pending debt since Lincoln, but he gives hope while

saying that the bank of justice cant be in bankrupt. Also, King repeats the

beginning of some sentences to give more emphasis and strength to his

arguments, like one hundred years later emphasizing the struggle of the negro

people being victims of rejection and abandonment. This part at the beginning is

particularly important to give the context and bring back the memories of what has

happened since slavery. Another example of repetition happens with now is the

time when he encourages change and looking for justice. By repeating the ideas

or part of those, makes easier to stuck them in the mind of people for further

remembrance. Besides this, King reinforces the concept of equality matching the

white and black people as a community with possible two objectives. The black

people may feel with purpose in life for the change and with the potential to

increase their status in the society. Also, it helps to dissuade the potential violent

people to start a rebellion after the potent speech because they will think that all

are the same. King is very accurate to emphasize his message of pacific rebellion.

Furthermore, one other important aspect of Martin Luther Kings logic is by locating

his arguments. This means that he mentions a lot of locations along the United

states to involve the people from each area to be part of the movements and to

illustrate actual facts that had happened in those cities.

In a like manner, Mr. King shows a lot of credibility while performing his

speech. To start, he has been fighting in favor of the civil rights movements as a

minister that has become a politician with the passage of time. Usually, religious
people are trustable and peaceful. He takes advantage of his knowledge of the

bible to use or adapt some passages in his speech. Another way to show himself

credible is by using a low amount of specific data. He makes comparisons, and

uses facts of the public domain, quotes of the Constitution and description of

verifiable events. Like when he said: "a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote." That was

actually happening. In that form the average person can understand what he was

saying and doesnt have to be well educated to catch the essence of the words. In

addition, he shows his trustworthiness while he is very secure of his words, and

despite that most of the speech was read, he tries to face the audience and shows

them confidence. In fact Mr. King performs the most emotive part of the speech

when he estates his famous I have a dream looking at the people all the time and

showing a more emotional face. He doesnt read that part because is the

memorabilia of it. That part is what even today people repeat, even if they dont

know the context of the situation. Finally, he uses a language that sounds almost

poetical for the closure of the speech, like if he was performing a worship at

church.

In conclusion, the structure of the speech could come to be considered

close to something perfect: it makes a good introduction, raises the problem,

unraveling cases of racial discrimination that was lived in the United States in those

times. He reaches some conclusions calling for action and expressing the negative

consequences that will have to ignore their demands: "It would be fatal for the

Nation to ignore the urgency of the moment," and the following ideas, with a call to

hope: "This situation will change". He reaches the height of the speech in the
famous passage "I have a dream", with final phrases in which he makes a song of

hope in his own particular way.

Finally, in order for everyone to identify themselves with his message, he

makes an exhaustive mention of many territories of the United States, so that

everyone feels involved and identified. This is an emotional speech based on the

reality and context of the time. The foundation thoughts of this discourse come

from hope as the engine of each sentence and idea. It is brief, but potent. The

resources used to give logic was built based on metaphors, analogies and

historical references. He was very meticulous in the choice of words. It is a strange

mixture of deep thoughts expressed in simple words. The innovative tone, the

combination of a minister and a politician that strongly influenced public opinion in

his time. He is always strong but promoter of unity and common good. Overall, As

he said in a following speech when he received the Nobel prize in 1964. We have

learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned

the simple art of living together as brothers. Martin Luther King dedicated himself

to teach Americans how to live together as brothers.

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