Analysis of King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech

Categories: Civil Rights Movement I Have a Dream

Analysis, Pages 3 (726 words)

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Dr. King, also known as Martin Luther King Jr., has been an idol to many, pushing those who are scared and weak to stand up and make a difference. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has made him the person he is known as today in modern history. Dr. King had many key ideas in the speech that changed people’s views and shaped a better society. Each one of the words and paragraphs of this speech has stated a unknown or lesser known problem in the segregated society.

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Most people were very happy to see someone fight for colored peoples rights, to set them free of the racism and discrimination.

First and foremost is the within the first claim in this speech. The first thing king explains is the problems such as racism and racial discrimination to be eliminated from the current society. Dr. King uses metaphors such as comparing slavery to “flames of withering injustice” and the Emancipation Proclamation to “a great beacon of light”.

King uses this to explain how slavery, racism, segregation and racial discrimination is just a bunch of darkness that fills the skies and sucks life out of any man. Then King comes in explaining how the Emancipation Proclamation is a beacon of light that can eliminate this darkness and set equality to every man and woman to create what is now the 21st Century society.

Supporting with the claims stated in the first main paragraph, details. Dr. King has a lot of metaphors and details to get his idea through that slavery, racism, and segregation need to be eliminated and equality needs to be created and spread through the nation to make better lives for the children of the future yet to come.

King refers to the lack of justice towards racism as a bankrupt bank of justice thus saying “But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice has gone bankrupt.” Meaning that they refuse to let racism go by without any consequences. King then goes in the next paragraph to state freedom as a “tranquilizing drug of gradualism” going through to say that with freedom relaxation and peace shall be brought amongst that nation once equality is equally divided amongst people of America. Going through to shorten this statement he is saying nobody is black or white or yellow or even brown, everyone is an American and that we need to recognize this and start acting united, afterall it is the United States of America.

Combining evidence and claims you have refined main ideas to get a strong point across. King uses detailed and important words so when broken down it shows a bigger meaning in reality. Dr. King is a man to bring a point across while also using metaphors as shown in the past two paragraphs as well. These metaphors King uses explain a very vivid painting in your mind that these things are worse than you might come to think normally. While King uses these he is at the same time refining his meanings to make his point sharper than it would be without the refining words and sentences. When he uses these the point stands out like a blue flower in a field of ash, meaning that it stands out more than the other points to by themselves.

Finally the last paragraphs of the speech include “Let freedom ring” These three words mean a lot when you think into deeper detail. These words are meaning let freedom be spread across the country, across the nation to show that we are united as one. This can also be thought of as the ringing echo of a round fired from a high caliber gun, the echo of the sound lets people know its a threat, while as King refers to the sound as freedom, and as freedom rings across the country people know that “we are united as one and nobody can separate us”. In conclusion Dr. King is a very inspirational man, he made the United States of America what it is today, and without him, we wouldn’t be united as one like we are today.