Tools chart

Figurative Language in Martin Luther King Jr. Speech Presented by Presented to Lecturer Audience Questions The claim is that the Blacks in America should have equal rights with the whites and that America should cease from treating its citizens on the basis of the color of their skin. The author intends to convince the audience to change their behavior where those who oppress the blacks are expected to stop while the blacks are expected to agitate for their rights.
The author primary audience is the oppressed black minority. This is because the author message seems to be expressing the miseries that the audience have been subjected to by the whites and even tells them that they should not be satisfied with their condition since this is not the way things should be. At one time the author tells his audience that as they go back to their slums, they should know that the current situation must change.
The author is a leader to the audience since he enlightens them and gives them important information that will lead to their freedom and access to justice in their society.
The author is the best candidate to speak on this topic since being a black; he has gone through the injustices he is commenting on. In addition, he is well learned which gives him an upper hand compared to the other blacks thus; he is able to give credible information.
The audience attitude was that of helplessness. This is because they thought that this was something hard for them to change thus; they had to learn to live with it since any attempt to revolve was met with brutality and even death.
Having tried to agitate for their freedom before without success, the audience was likely to object on the ground of the cost that this exercise would cost. This is in terms of power and loss of lives since the administration would fight them through intimidation.
The audience attitude towards the writer is receptive since being a black they identified with him as he understood their miseries.
The audience is likely to approve the author’s message since they were not happy with their current situation and what the author claimed was the truth as America was their country as well.
Tool (analogy, diction, etc.)
Quote (Quote part of the tool)
Appeal (ethos, pathos, logos)
How/why does it work for audience (which emotions?)
Diction
Freedom, Justice, oppression.
Ethos
Appeals to the audience to act as this condition is not eternal
Analogy
One hundred years later…
Ethos
Metaphor
“ the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity”
Ethos
It evokes the bitter contrast of the black and white American citizens illustrating racial injustice.
Simile
.. And we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Logos
Appeals to the audience to wait for their freedom that will be compared to sweetness of righteousness.
Anaphora
“ One hundred years later…”
“ Now is the time…”
Pathos
Repeating the words in successive clauses makes the audience experience the rhetorical effect of the message
Repetition
Freedom
Justice
Dream
Ethos
It appeals to the audience on what they ought to agitate for.
Allusions
“ Five score years ago…”
“ Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”
Ethos
It improves the credibility of the author arguments.
Use of specific examples
Mississippi
The South
“ slums and ghettos of our northern cities”
Logos
This evokes very strong emotions to the audience since these are the areas that real miseries have been experienced.
Personification
.. the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation…
Ethos
It evokes to the audience sense on the importance of his life.
Use of a song
My country,….
Sweet land….
Of thee..
Pathos
Calls for unity and appeals to the
Language
…tis of thee
Logos
Creates a sense of identity in the audience.
Demand Media, Inc, (2012)
Work cited:
Demand Media, Inc. Kinds of Figurative Language. 2012. Retrieved from: http://www. ehow. com/about_5448557_kinds-figurative-language. html. [Accessed on 2ndFebruary, 2012]