Camille Zendzian

RA
IHAD - FC Draft #1
10/23/13
In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s empowering I Have a Dream speech delivered on the steps of
the Lincoln Memorial, he persuades Civil Rights Activists during the 1960s to continue fighting until
America is no longer suffering from segregation through a dark, oppressive introduction of the social
injustices and contrasting it with creating a bright, joyous future with ensured racial equality where a
Negro will be free at last (P 37).
Accompanied by an elaborate description of a Negros struggles and hardships, Dr. Kings
prospect of a bright American future builds the idea of a nation with racial equality possible through the
Civil Rights Activists perseverance. The switch from the use of the pronoun we to I halfway through
the speech signifies a shift from the dark past to a hopeful future. Dr. King applies we when he speaks
of what the Negros have struggled through in the past and present while when he applies I he is
speaking of what a bright future will look like if they succeed in achieving racial equality. His goal is to
empowering the activists by helping them realize they had the power they were searching for all along.
The speech must empower the audience because King realizes they have already given up all hope but if
this future he describes is to ever become a reality, he must fill them with the power to continue
fighting, not give up in their cause. He uses the shift in pronouns to empower the audience because
when King describes what we have struggled through, he makes them they have the power to
continue fighting if they have the power to endure all these hardships. The shift to I further empowers
the activists by listing all the bright aspects of the future they have the power to achieve. Through this
pronoun, King is telling his audience that all their dreams are just out of reach and if our ancestors have
fought so hard already and we want our children to live in a good world, they must continue fighting.
The pronoun I is able to do this because it does not literally refer to the author himself but rather all
those behind his cause, the use of the pronoun simply makes the dreams of the future more personal
because King is no longer speaking to the audience but rather as the audience. His dreams are the same
as his audiences and this personal pronoun tells the audience that they all share the same idea of the
future, they simply need to join together and realize their strengths. The author purposefully places the
pronoun we before I in order to develop the credibility of the statements used with I. The usage of
we develops credibility by describing in great detail what we Negros have struggled through all
these decades, so the I statements do not only apply to King but also his audience for they have each
struggled through the same past and must desire the same things. This credibility developed through a
shift in pronouns builds a hopeful connotation of the word dream. King repeats dream in the second
half of his speech consecutively with the pronoun I to force the audience to realize the optimistic
ideas of his desired future is not only his, but also theirs and the repetition assures they realize this. The
repetition encourages the activists to continue fighting through the positive connotations of dream such
as deep desires, hope, and optimism. By repeating that word, King is able to imprint these ideas into the
minds of his audience so what he is speaking of will become increasingly desirable to them. As he finally
expresses these dreams aloud, the author makes this future personal to the activists. This encourages
their perseverance through appealing to their desires and then explaining that in order to satisfy them,
the activists must fight until segregation is abolished. To increase the desire to achieve this future, King
follows each repetition of dream with a juxtaposition between the past oppression Negros have
experienced and a future where all races see each other as equals. This follows the pattern of his entire
speech and by placing it toward the end of his speech; King finalizes this aspect of his argument
ultimately filling his audience with a surge of power with the idea of the past to see into the future.
With this faith (P27) in a future complete with all their hopes and dreams, King uses anaphora to fill
his audience with the power to continue fighting to reach their goal of a racially equal America. With this
phrase, the author is referencing to an allusion to the Bible that says the future will be what the Lord
desires. He uses this to empower his audience by appealing to their personal connections with religion.
This faith in God will be a key element in reaching racial equality, the author is pointing out to this
audience. He uses this faith to contrast the jangling discords of our nation and a beautiful symphony
of brotherhood in an antithesis as an appeal to the audiences emotions. Faith, with its religious
connotation, leads the audience to see this brotherhood as Gods desire for the Bible mentions time
and time again brotherhood between men, between the human race. Therefore, the audience will see it
as their biblical duty to fulfill this brotherhood between Negros and white men. In addition, the parallel
structure following with this faith of we together explains that a future of racial equality means
races harmonizing together to achieve their dreams.