I have a dream Essay

The speech I have a dream by Martin Luther King Junior is one of the most influential speeches ever made. This speech resonated very well with the audience. It is formed with powerful imagery and quotes from other important speakers such as A. Lincoln. There is also a lot of repetition in this speech such as One hundred years later, which dramatizes the racial problems in America and makes the audience desperate for a final solution. He did his speech one the same place, Lincoln, made promises about democracy and freedom for everyone 100 years before, that is 5 score years.

But even after one century, this could not be achieved in Martin Luther Kings opinion and so he describes black Americas situation as sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation.

He doesnt give up hope though and so he states Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. He describes his dream in a lot of metaphors and examples, so that everyone can not only understand his ideas but also feel and identify with it. Another literary device that also has a lot of influence is his use of metaphors. "One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty and in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."

Unlike others, he wants to achieve change without violence and so he says We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Instead he is encouraging the audience the audience to walk and not turn back, until his dream of freedom is achieved.

And again he is quoting Lincoln We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. After speaking about the Declaration of Independence and how it guaranteed all people the unalienable rights of life and liberty, King says, "America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt."

The check he is speaking of is a comparison to their right to equality, which as of yet they feel they have not received. All of the examples of metaphors were comparing how the black people were discriminated against and being on the receiving end of injustices which were inflicted by the white man. However, he is not encouraging for hate towards the white population but he describes them as White brothers, whose destiny is tied up with those of the Negros. The entire last paragraph of King's speech is an example of parallelism. This means that all different races and religions are no better than the other, which shows that he doesnt only want equality for black people but for everyone.

Martin Luther King Junior wants the audience to evaluate and change America now and so he says that his dream is not in the future but he has a dream today.

However, it can be criticized that he did not use all the resonance of his very powerful speech to do something with it, such as protesting in front of the White House, that was just minutes away from the Lincoln Memorial, where he gave his speech. He didnt give the audience a task and so it took years and a lot more violence and injustice until Americas racial problems could finally be solved.