Rhetorical Analysis Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Speech

My favorite image that Martin Luther King Jr. used in his speech is “one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering in the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.” I like this one because Mississippi was a horrible state that threatened African Americans, but King gave the people hope that even states like that can change.

“One hundred years later” is the repetition that I find the most captivating to me. I love this repetition because king uses it to remind everyone that one hundred years ago Lincoln promised freedom to slaves yet they still feel enslaved and oppressed. “One hundred years later” and yet very little has changed.

In Amos 5:24 it says that “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. and he also quotes Isaiah 40:4-5 “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together.” I believe that MLK uses these verses because they both portray what God wants of us and shows that our dream should be just like his dream.
He is contrasting the dark and painful past and present to the bright and untold future that awaits. MLK using those words to paint a picture of the dark and horrible society of then to the light of the future, like a flashlight shining in the dark. There is hope for peace between the blacks and