Speech Analysis of "I Have Term Paper

King's introduction is blunt: "One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." (King, 1963)

The introduction, however, although not as famous as the speech's conclusion, serves not merely as a crowd-pleaser or an attention getting device to rally the weary souls of the marchers of the movement King lead, but does actually state, quite explicitly, the real, concrete physical goals of the march. King's idealistic conclusion is remembered, but he did not merely call for racial equality, he also called for the American government to fulfill the promise made to African-Americans that they would become equal citizens of the union.

King's conclusion essentially opens up the scope of his speech to a panorama of a greater future, for all Americans.It acts not merely to educate the White as well as the Black audience on the significance of his topic, but shows that every person has an interest in making a more peaceful and harmonious society of freedom. The effective nature of King's introduction and particularly in his conclusion is commemorated in the fact that almost every American schoolchild, Black or White, can recite the end of the speech. Why, one might ask, is King's introduction not memorized as easily? It might be the lack of repetition, of course, or the situational rather than the persuasive nature of the beginning of the speech's text. But it also might be the reminder that King's metaphorical "check" has still not been fully 'cashed.' In short, the promise of freedom and harmonious equality still has not been fulfilled as he dreamed at the end of the speech.

Works Cited

King, Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have a Dream." August 23, 1963. From Great Speeches,

Volume 1.

King, Jr., Martin Luther. "I Have a Dream." August 23, 1963. American Rhetoric.

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