Reflection on Martin Luther King's speech

Please watch this video on Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream".

This speech was made by Martin Luther King in 1963 to free the Negro slaves in America, to end the segregation between the Blacks and the Whites in America. As everyone knows, the Whites in America in the 1800s and the 1900s treated the Negro badly and the Blacks were not respected in the American society. Segregation and chain of discrimination were rife. In this speech, Martin Luther King mentioned about the promise of a great American to free the Negro, the current situation of the Negro, how the Blacks were treated by the Whites in America and the demand for the Blacks to be included and not disrespected in the America society.

Personally, I think that this speech made by Martin Luther King is an excellent speech. There are a number of "allusion" used in his speech which was important as it gained support from the audience, he also used allusion to emphasize on certain points that he wanted to make.
For example, " But a hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact...
One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly...
One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island...
One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners... ".

Furthermore, the phrase "I have a dream" is used eight times to stress on what he hope after there is no segregation.
"I have a dream that one day this nation...
I have a dream that one day on red hills of Georgia...
I have a dream that one day even the states of Mississippi...
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation...
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama...
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley...

The phrase "Let freedom ring" was also used nine times.
These use of allusion made his speech very interesting as it makes the tone of his speech very strict.

Moreover, there are also some use of repetition in his speech.
For example, the word mississippi is mentioned four times in his speech.

The part that I enjoyed the most is the part where metaphor is used.
He said" Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds". But we refuse to believe to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vault of opportunity of this nation. So we have to cash this check - a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of the justice."

He portrayed a check as a request to free the Negro but the Whites did not accept their request and this is a great metaphor used.

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Kong Jayson
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