Through the repetition of the phrase ‘I have a dream’ Martin Luther King is able to emphasise and portray the vision he has for a racially equal American society and country and for everyone to get along. This phrase occurs three times in the text. In addition the various persuasive language and rhetorical devices used by Martin Luther King includes the following:Īnaphora can be found in paragraph 1, paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 of the speech text encompassing the phrase “ I have a dream”. This can be found in paragraph 1 of the speech text stating “one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with the little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” Martin Luther King therefore addresses all races in his speech in order to create unison between black and white Americans. Thirdly the target audience of Martin Luther King’s speech is intended for the black and white American public. This can be deducted through phrases like “vicious racists”, “interposition”, “nullification”, “dream”, “will”, “able” and “join” in paragraph 1. Secondly the purpose of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech by Martin Luther King is to remind the American people that the goal of true freedom for African Americans had not yet been realised, to expose the injustice of racial inequality to the American public and ultimately persuade them to stop discriminating on the basis of race and enlighten them on the change that is coming. This can be identified by the attention grabbing opening statement in paragraph 1 of the text stating ‘I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification– one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers”. I will identify and explain the type of text identify and explain the purpose of the text identify the target audience and identify and explain the persuasive linguistic rhetorical devices used in the text and the function thereof in order to persuade the audience.įirstly the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech by Martin Luther King falls under the genre of non-fiction prose and is in the form of a political persuasive speech. In this essay I will critically analyse the content of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
In this speech Martin Luther King is trying to expose the American public to the injustice of racial inequality and persuade them to stop discriminating on the basis of race by joining him in a campaign to extend the freedom of rights to all Americans. The ‘I Have a Dream’ speech is a public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
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