Martin Luther King Acceptance Speech Essay

Acceptance Speech Martin Luther King was an African American activist and leader who dedicated his life to fighting for equal rights for coloured people in America. Grown up in a Baptist family, Christianity held a huge fascination for Martin Luther King, which is often reflected in his speeches. In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his achievements in the struggle for equality and independence for coloured people. When receiving the award, Martin Luther King expresses his appreciation by a speech in Oslo. This speech is slightly different to his other speeches such as “I have a dream” or “Eulogy” as he uses less metaphors and alliterations and not only focuses on racial discrimination in the United States of America. He uses high vocabulary, as he speaks to a highly educated non-American
audience in a humble tone. Martin Luther King begins his speech with the words: “The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery to Alabama to Oslo...” This can be classified as a metaphor, as “tortuous road” emphasizes that Negros had to suffer humiliation, exploitation and oppression for many years.
But this “road” gave new hope to the people in the United States, as it is said in the speech: “This road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope.” This is an extended metaphor that appears throughout the whole paragraph, as he goes on with:” a superhighway of injustice”. These words show that the civil rights movement can’t be stopped anymore and will finally bring justice for Negros. Throughout the speech many alliteration occur such as:”faith in the future” or “bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood”. These examples show that alliterations point attention to the sentence and help to fix the reader’s mind. It then goes on with the simile: “Man is more flotsam and jetsam in the river of life”. By these words Martin Luther King wants to emphasize that it is possible for everybody to change something in the world, despite the fact that people do not have the same
opinion. Later he says:” I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to Starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality”. By metaphor “starless midnight of racism” Martin Luther King wants to indicate was considerate to something unsolvable or unchangeable. By the words “bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood”, he which is also a metaphor, he emphasizes thatpeace and brotherhood will finally be achieved. However, these metaphor are very effective as they make the abstract or unknown concrete but it also enlivens the reader’s imagination. This sentence can also closely be classified as a balanced sentence, as Martin Luther King tells us what to do and what not to do. However, this helps to persuade the audience so stand up for their rights. Throughout the speech many anaphoras occur such as “I refuse to accept” or “I believe that”. This rhetorical device emphasizes Martin Luther King’s aim for equal rights all over the world. Later on it says: “I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘is-ness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘ought-ness’ that forever confronts him.” Martin Luther King had a vision for how things ought to be. He shows us to refuse to accept things for how they are, and instead strive to find the solution for how they ought to be. Martin Luther King will always remain one of the most influential and greatest freedom fighters in the world. Though his commitment and persuasion, he achieved a lot for Afro American people in the USA.