Marin Luther King Speech: “I have a Dream”

Marin Luther King Speech: “I have a Dream”

Introduction

Brooks and Warren, in an excellent book, Fundamental of Good Writing, have compared style to the grain in wood. The style of a work is not a sort of veneer glued over the outside. On the contrary, it is like the pattern of the grain in a piece of wood (Lawrence, 1959). It is a pattern that goes all the way through: a manifestation of the growth and development of the stricture of the tree itself. As a man thinks and feels, so he will write. If his thoughts are muddled, his style will be muddled. If his thoughts are clear and sharp, his writing will be clear and sharp (Luther, 1967). “A man's style,” wrote Emerson, is his mind's voice. And he added: “wooden minds, wooden voices” (Luther, 1958). Since style is something ingrained in writing and not stuck on top like a veneer, it follows that a man's way of wring will be an expression of his personality and his way of looking at life (Luther, 1967).

Discussion Analysis

Martin Luther King, the follower of the nonviolent principles of Mahatma Grandhi, conveyed his belief to the audience through the whole speech (Luther, 1959). All he said about the poor living conditions of Negro and the discrimination against the black people was nothing but fact. That is, he didn't say anything exaggerative or sensational to turn the listeners into riot. On the contrary, he stated clearly that they should â struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline instead of degenerating into physical violence. In addition, the author was also a supporter of eliminating the racial discrimination in society. In the speech, he formed a beautiful blue print of white and black people living equally and happily together (Bennett, 1964).

Main Argument

Main argument was Impeccable. He makes a historic introduction to legitimize the objective, and he wraps it with emotion and introduces it with a metaphor: In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.

Logic of the arguments

It is a fluent and fluid discourse, of clearly threaded ideas where the author builds them through the use of metaphors around the objective. These are some of the images and concepts that he uses to support his rationality: a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds, rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream,” (Russell, 1963) or enhancing the geography and orography of the country, quoting cities transformed into a “an oasis of freedom and justice.

Emotional tone

Demanding and yet filled with hope; two emotional tones that are congruent with the message. His tone of demand stands out by being accompanied by calling for moderation and brotherhood. It is a strong speech, of accusation, that projects a message leading toward peace and unity (Nicolaus, 2000). I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, ...