I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman and black civil rights leader who fought with dignity for equality and justice. He delivered one of the most memorable and timeless speeches, "I Have a Dream," in the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King's tone and oral style made his speech powerful and effective towards the immense crowd of Washington and to all the people generations after. Through the use of metaphors, allusions, and repetition Martin Luther King was successful in delivering him "I Have a Dream" speech.
The use of metaphors included in Dr. King's speech gives the audience a visual representation of what he is trying to object. The most famous metaphor, coming straight from the Declaration of Independence, says, "In a sense, we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be granted the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, which has come back marked 'insufficient funds'" (King 41). This metaphor is a powerful metaphor because everyone who lives in America knows about the baking system and at some point in the majority of people's life, they have had insufficient funds. Martin Luther King is not badmouthing America; he is gracefully saying that America made a promise and it should be kept; it is beneath America to treat the people this way. In another metaphor, King is arguing one of his dreams based on his thoughts of racial segregation, "I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice" (King 43). A concrete image is being brought upon of African Americans under pain through the heat of injustice. In the South, it is literally hot, and he is implying that African Americans are sizzling with the lack of freedom and fairness because of their skin color.
Dr. King also uses allusions to express his views on racial inequality. The first sentence to his speech is an allusion to the Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln, "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation" (King 41). Like Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln also advocated for equality and justi...
