Oratorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Juniors Speech, I Have a Dream - Assignment Example

Oratorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Junior’s Speech, I Have a Dream Introduction Martin Luther’s speech had a widespread influential impact in the United States and the World at large. Luther’s oration was not only meant to stir the United States Congress, but also parliament to enact legislation promoting racial equality. The primary focus of Martin Luther was the United States; however, his dream of racial reconciliation and harmonious coexistence had a transcend appeal to all nations of the world shaken by public dissatisfaction. When Martin Luther King, Jr delivered the speech to demonstrate mass support for the civil rights legislation, he made a remarkable challenge to the United States that still echoes today. Speech Description The Structure of the Speech The speech can be divided into two parts: there is a part that constitutes prose and the other part that is poetic. The prose part begins from the first paragraph to the fourth paragraph. In these paragraphs, the speech is descriptive in nature and written in prose form. The paragraphs consist of long sentences that are not repetitive. These sentences also do not rhyme. The poetic part begins from the fifth paragraph to the eighteenth paragraph have some poetic features. For example, Martin Luther’s speech contained a part referred to as the “the urgency of now.” This is found in the fifth and sixth paragraphs. The repetitive of “now is the time” gives the poem poetic articulations. Luther also talked about “we cannot be satisfied”, implying that the citizens are not satisfied if certain conditions required to guarantee justice and fairness among the Negroes have not been met. The most remarkable poetic feature of the speech constitutes repeating the phrase, “I have a dream”. It has been reported that the original speech that Martin Luther was to deliver did not have the section, “I have a dream”. Luther, however, diverted from the original speech and inserted this section, which greatly enhanced his fame during his time and even to present. The sentence, such as, it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream has most of the poetic features such as rhyme, repetition, and imagery. The Context of the Speech Martin Luther King, Jr delivered the speech, I have a Dream on August 28, 1963 (Price 3). The aim of the speech was to eradicate racism in the United States of America. According to Martin Luther King Jr, racism was deeply rooted in the United States and it was the main driver of oppression and discrimination against the Negroes. To Luther, the United States of America was not the land of social injustices, but the place where all humanity would enjoy justice and freedom across time and place. Luther delivered the speech to more than 250,000 supporters of rights movement (Bobbitt 16). Most of the American citizens were embracing social justice movements and guaranteeing of human rights as the core elements of political, economic, and social development. Martin Luther King Jr was also an influential figure during his time; he was too rhetoric, which enabled him to attract and maintain the attention of masses. When he called for a peaceful demonstration, masses of people would not fail to turn up. The venue of the speech was the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King chose to deliver the speech at Lincoln Memorial because Abraham Lincoln was a symbol of freedom; in 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which led to freeing of more than 4 million slaves (Baldwin 22). For several decades after his death, Abraham Lincoln still echoes in the memories of people of all walks across the world. The government erected a magnificent monument for his remembrance. Luther is reported to have originally designed the speech as reverence to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address; this was timed to correspond with a hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The speech was really a defining moment of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. The main purpose of the African-American Civil Rights Movement was to end racial segregation and discrimination against the Negroes. Through this, it would be possible to secure federal protection and legal recognition of the rights of citizens as enumerated in the in the constitutional amendments adopted post civil war. The movement featured major campaigns of civil resistance, which caused crisis situations between activists and the government between 1955 and 1968. Before analyzing and evaluating the speech, I Have a Dream, it is crucial to comprehend the background of the speaker because this can help us understand the circumstances that motivated the delivery of the speech. Martin Luther King Junior The period between January 15, 1929 and April 4, 1969 witnessed the life of an American pastor, activist, humanitarian and a leader by name Martin Luther King, Jr (Baldwin 8). Martin Luther was a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. His father, Michael King, intentionally changed his name to honor Martin Luther, a Germany Reformer. Martin Luther King, Jr was a Baptist minister, but became a civil rights activist early in his career. During his service as a minister, Martin got an excellent platform from where he could air his grievances especially concerning the injustices and oppression of the black Americans. In the year 1965, Luther King, Jr led the Montgomery Bus Boycott in addition to the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in the year 1957 (King and Carson 22). Luther served as the president for the SCLC. Martin Luther witnessed unsuccessful attempts to eliminate racial segregation in Albany, Georgia. Luther did not give up; he organized a non-violent demonstration in Birmingham, which attracted widespread attention, both nationally and internationally. The peaceful protest was characterized by television news coverage of the brutal response by the police, events that ended with the jailing of Luther together with his several followers (King and Carson 44). Luther summed up all the challenges the human rights activists were facing during their struggles to make America habitable for people of all races. It was the anger of nonresponsive to his calls that prompted him to call a mass demonstration; Luther, however spelled out his theory of nonviolent direct action. After their release, Luther and his supporters planned a massive demonstration at the capital of the nation. This demonstration would be composed of multiple organizations and all would be asking for peaceful change. Luther established his reputation as the greatest orators in the United States history when he organized and delivered the August 28, 1963 March on Washington speech, I have a Dream. Having understood the background of the speaker, which has shed some light concerning the factors that motivated the delivery of the speech, it is vital to analyze the speech before evaluating its effectiveness. Analysis of the Speech The Message in the Speech The speech begins with giving reference to the Emancipation proclamation. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a presidential proclamation during the American Civil War (Bobbitt 21). The Emancipation Proclamation was meant to proclaim the freedom of slaves in the 11 states that were still in civil war. Abraham Lincoln left a permanent legacy by eradicating slavery and releasing approximately 4,000,000 slaves in America at that time (Baldwin 19). Martin Luther argues that, ten decades later, people are struggling with the problems that Abraham Lincoln sought to eliminate from the boundaries of the American society; …a hundred years later, the Negro is still in captivity, their life is still badly crippled by menaces of segregation and chains of discrimination, the Negro still lives in a lonely island of poverty in the midst of vast ocean of material prosperity…” (Price 11). Luther, thus, is not happy with the fact that black Americans are still in indirect slavery evidenced by widespread segregation and exposure to social injustices. Luther informed his followers that they had come to the capital to cash the cheque, which was handed to them during the signing of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The cheque symbolizes the promises that the citizens were given to them when Abraham Lincoln signed Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863. Most of these promises have not been fulfilled since the Negroes were still living in disguised slavery ten decades later. Luther doubted whether the bank account of justice was bankrupt. This is because Americans had failed to honor the cheque, and instead returned it marked insufficient funds. The objective of this message was to remind his followers that America has not been yet fulfilled her promises including rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Therefore, the reason for their assemblage was to ask the government meet their demands. Martin Luther informed his listeners about necessity of urgency in taking actions. He told them that now is the time to make their lives be what they want. Luther warns that it would be fatal if the government ignores the urgency of the moment. Martin Luther believed that the longer it took for the nation to guarantee justice, the longer restlessness and lack of tranquility would continue to shake the foundations of the American nation. As much as they wanted timely justice and provision for human rights and freedoms, Luther seemed to be aware of wrongful deeds that citizens were capable of resorting to during the process of gaining their rightful place. He, therefore, warned them against seeking to satisfy their thirst of freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred (Baldwin 29). This was a warning to the oppressed not to develop hatred and bitterness to their oppressors; they ought to fight for their rights using nonviolent means. According to Luther, the struggles for freedom were to be conducted on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Martin Luther encouraged his followers to maintain the faith unearned suffering is the best way to redemption. He recognized that people had come from narrow jails, areas characterized by police brutality, and storms of persecution. Therefore, he asked them to go back to all cities with the faith that their present situation could be and definitely would be changed to better. He named most of the cities that had persistent cases of discrimination and social injustices; he was also sure that people had come from those towns or the message would reach them through the media. Martin Luther made it clear that he still had a dream in the midst of difficulties of those days. Luther’s dreams foresaw sons of both slaves and masters sitting down together at the table of brotherhood. He informed his followers that injustices and oppressions will one day be transformed into freedom and justice. Luther described several pieces of his dream, but the dream mainly concerned eradication of injustices, oppression, and discrimination against the Negroes. Towards the end of the speech, Luther asked citizens to let freedom ring from all corners of the country to allow God’s children: black and white, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics to come together and sing the old Negro spiritual song, Free at last, Great God a-Almighty, We are free at last. Rhetorical Aspects of the Speech Martin Luther used rhetorical features in his speech; for example, the cheque symbolizes the debts of justice and rights and freedoms that the government owes to the citizens. Luther uses this rhetoric feature of the promissory note to refer to the promises that the signing of the constitution and the declaration of independence made to the citizens. The promissory note ought to act as a promise that people of all races would be guaranteed unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The symbol of a bad cheque implies that the state has not given the citizens true freedom that they deserve. Instead of the government ensuring social justice for all the people, they diverted from their core role and denied the citizens the rights and freedoms. Luther denies to belief that the bank of justice is bankrupt; he believes that demanding riches of freedom and sustainable justice can bear good fruits for the people. Repetition widely features the speech. The first repetitive feature that Luther uses is, now is the time. Luther was expressing the urgency of now; Luther wanted to stress the urgency with which the states were required to make real promises of democracy, stop segregation and guarantee racial justice, make justice a reality, and lift the nation from racial injustices to solid brotherhood. The repetition of the phrase, now is the time, enhances the beauty of sentences and stresses on the point of main significance. Another repetition feature in the speech is we can never be satisfied. Luther repeats this phrase to stress the point that the citizens cannot be contented when the Negroes are exposed to police brutality, have no access social services equally to whites, only move from smaller ghetto to a larger one, and their children are denied their dignity by stating “For Whites Only”. Additionally, Luther expresses dissatisfaction caused by denied rights for Negroes to vote and lack of racial justice. The purpose of this repetition was to emphasize dissatisfaction and draw attention to this theme. The most famous part of Luther’s speech is the section of I have a dream. Luther repeated this phrase several times. The dream in this speech is used as a symbol of a time when people will live a quality life as the citizens deserve. I have a dream did not constitute part of the original speech that Luther was going to deliver on August 28, 1963; Mahalia Jackson, a gospel musician shouted to Luther from the crowd, saying, “tell me about the dream”. Luther stopped reading his original speech and diverted to an unwritten speech I have a dream speech. There are several dreams that Martin Luther dreams for America, which are revealed by the repeated in the speech. The phrase, let freedom ring is also severally repeated in the last four paragraphs. Luther called for freedom to ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire, mighty mountains of New York, heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, snowcapped Rockies of Colorado, curvaceous slopes of California, Stone Mountain of Georgia, Lookout Mountain of Tennessee, and every hill and molehill of Mississippi. When mentioning every phrase, Luther first said, let freedom ring. He had identified areas where racism and injustices were deeply rooted. This is why Martin Luther King mentioned them by names. The attention of the mentioned states would be attracted to read the speech. The repetitive nature of the phrase serves as an attention grabber and as a tool for stressing on the necessity of fighting for freedom. Evaluation of the Speech Martin Luther King, Jr effectively used figures of speech to make his speech captivating and memorable. The speech sounded rhythmic and got widespread response during the delivery process. The primary audience for the speech was the African-American Human Rights Movement activists. The effectiveness of the speech was further enhanced by the mix of historical, rhetorical, and biblical references. The speech also consisted of rhythmic lines and poetic features that gave the speech a song-like piece; the repetitive lines acted as the chorus for audience participation. More than fifty years after Luther delivered his iconic speech, the United States continues to celebrate the anniversary of Luther’s memorable speech highlighted by a series of events. For example, Obama delivered a speech from the steps of the Lincoln memorial. Parts of the ceremonies are billed as the Let Freedom Ring ceremony. During the delivery of the speech by President Obama, bells were scheduled to ring in cities and towns across the US at 1500h to commemorate the time Luther began delivering his speech. Martin Luther’s plea for an American dream seems to have been credited in the nation’s legislature. In the year 1964, America passed a landmark Civil Rights Act, which was preceded by the passage of Voting Rights Act in 1965. Discrimination and racial injustices are no longer happening in America; this is credited to tireless works of Martin Luther King, Jr. currently, America is under a president of the black origin. Barrack Obama traces his fatherhood to Western Kenya. This implies that Martin Luther’s speech, I have a Dream, has had remarkable effects in America and still remains iconic in America and the world at large. Conclusion Martin Luther’s iconic speech contains both prose and poetic features. Luther delivered the speech on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln memorial. The speech had both immediate and long term effects in the American nation. The speech, I have a Dream, still echoes to date because of its powerful message that gave hope to the Negroes, rhetoric features, and the eloquence with which it was delivered. The speech was a time and a moment in history, but still inspires world leaders and speakers information that can enhance their speech delivery. Works Cited Baldwin, Lewis V. The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. Bobbitt, David A. The Rhetoric of Redemption: Kenneth Burkes Redemption Drama and Martin Luther King, Jr.s "i Have a Dream" Speech. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littefield Publishers, 2004. Print. King, Martin L, and Clayborne Carson. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Intellectual Properties Management in association with Warner Books, 1998. Print. Price, Hossell K. I Have a Dream. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2006. Print. Read More