I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther king, Jr.

Negro spiritual:
Building vocabulary

A.
Understanding the writer’s
ideas



1. Lincoln.
2. The lack of freedom and the manifold inequality
suffered by African Americans.
3. The Constitution and Declaration of
Independence were a “promissory note” for all future
generations of Americans, but this promise has
been denied to the Negro people (pars. 3 & 4). King
has brought his followers to Washington to cash this
check and demand “the riches freedom and the
security of justice.”
Understanding the writer’s
ideas



4. This is not for gradualism, he says, no time
to put off what has long been left undone.
Action is required immediately.
5. To refrain from hatred, violence, and
stereotyping of all white people as racists—
but not to rest satisfied until justice is done.
6. He turns the argument on its head, saying
the Negro people can never be satisfied with
inequality and injustice (par. 7).
Understanding the writer’s
ideas


7. Despite the challenges and the obstacles,
King retains the hope that the promise of
freedom and equality for all in America will be
fulfilled.
8. By identifying his dream with the American
dream and associating his cause with the
words of the anthem, “My country ‘tis of thee.”
He also embraces all Americans and all parts
of America—north and south, Catholics and
Protestants, etc.
Understanding the writer’s
ideas

9. To return to the keynote, to emphasize to
others that is a Negro cause; and to draw in
conclusion on the deepest sources of Negro
feeling and belief.
Understanding the writer’s
techniques

1. Intended as an inspirational address, the
speech uses repetition and highly
metaphorical figures of speech far more than
would be appropriate in expository prose (e.g.
“seared in the flames of withering injustice,”
par. 1; “from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice,”
par. 4).
Understanding the writer’s
techniques



2. Slavery was an economic arrangement; insofar as
full emancipation cannot be achieved without
economic equality, the “cash” metaphor is
appropriate.
3. The Old Testament centers significantly on the
sorrow of the Jews in their exile.
4. King’s thesis has two parts. First, he wants to say
generally why the March on Washington has
occurred: “we have come here today to dramatize
an appalling condition” (par. 2).
Understanding the writer’s
techniques

4. Second, he wants to emphasize the
necessary conclusion in thought that this
dramatization leads to: “When we let freedom
ring…we will be able to speed up that day
when all of God’s children (can say) ‘Free at
last!’” (par. 27).
Understanding the writer’s
techniques

5. The immediate audience, clearly, is the one in
front of him at the Lincoln Memorial (“we have come
here…” par. 2). He alludes, too, to militant
tendencies with in the Civil Rights movement (“We
must not allow our creative protest to degenerate
into physical violence,” par. 6), and to those urging
gradualism or mocking him with being never
satisfied (par. 7). At the close, in invoking the grand
American tradition of democracy, he appeals beyond
the immediate to all right thinking Americans (pars.
20-27).
Understanding the writer’s
techniques

6. By appeal to their religious convictions and
by making the present travail of the Negro
analogous to the familiar biblical stories of
injustice and suffering. By rousing language,
especially repetition. By frequent allusion to
eloquent passages in the literary or popular
tradition (Shakespeare, for example). By
invoking the emotive touchstones of the
national tradition—Gettysburg Address, “My
country, ‘tis of thee,” etc.
Understanding the writer’s
techniques


7. To be certain that those not familiar with
the exact words hear them, and to be able to
draw on the phrase, “Let freedom ring.” He
wants to embrace all of the country, every
corner, including the darkest, most backward,
most staunchly racist corner: Mississippi.
8. Modulation of language and tone to
address his audience. Refutation (par. 7).
Analogy. Analysis (par. 2)
Understanding the writer’s
techniques


9. Repetition is one of King’s device to move
his audience.
10. They not only capture the main point of
the essay but frame it in the words of a
source deeply rooted in the emotional and
cultural traditions of his audience.