Non-Fiction Essay On Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Non-Fiction Essay
Dreams are what keep people motivated. They drive people to work hard and continue pushing. Dreams are what lead to put into action. Dreams are necessary in the world and always will be because nothing ever will be perfect, something is always going to be unfair to some group. However, a lot of the time dreams are shot down and that is just part of the process. That is why change is not easy to accomplish. That is why it takes someone or something of great power to achieve change. Iconic civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote many moving speeches that displayed his dreams to the public. The reason that his speeches stood out and always will stand out is because those speeches inspired people
moved people to action. One of Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous examples of this is in his “I have a dream” speech where he says: “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” King’s continuous use of the word “satisfied” in his speech motivated people, especially African-Americans, to continue to fight for change. He is telling them if they want to be treated equally they will have to take action and they cannot give up until they are treated as equals. When and only when they have equal rights and are treated well, will they be satisfied with the way their everyday lives go. King does not want them to be satisfied with only having equal rights, he does not want them to give up until the only difference between a white and a black man is the color of their skin. This quote is at the end of a long paragraph, which repeats the phrase “We can never (cannot) be satisfied….” This repetition of a phrase is called an anaphora. It is used to stress the point and increase the power of the speech (Dlugan). King used this device often in his speeches and that is part of what made them so compelling. Other famous people such as Abraham Lincoln, and even today Barack Obama have used anaphoras in their speeches.Through the use of different writing strategies King moved people into
In King’s piece of writing, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” he writes about how a peaceful protest should be held and how it is most effective. He writes: “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (Martin Luther King Jr.). These four steps have been used, are being used, and are always going to be used. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. was not the first one to come up with non-violent protest, he was someone who made it work and he did in a big way. All of these four steps are critical in non-violent protest because without one of the steps the whole thing will fail. It is just like if a structure is built with one piece of the foundation missing the entire structure will most likely