I Have A Dream

Jane Watson
Professor Leslie Jewkes
English 201
5 Nov 2012

I Have A Dream

In 1963, during the march on Washington, the famed Martin Luther King delivered one of the most memorable speeches of our time, I Have a Dream. From the first moment I listened to the speech during high school I was touched by it. I have no particular reason to be so deeply affected, as I do not have any ties or relations to anyone who was impacted by the oppression suffered by those who King relates to in the speech. Regardless, it's one of my favorites.
 
The entire speech is written in simplistic yet powerful prose, the perfect combination to deliver a message so that everyone can understand it, be moved and learn from it. Every passage, even when read without the doctor's words to emphasize it, holds a resounding truth. From the latter half of the first sentence, “the greatest demonstration of freedom in the history of our nation,” already we are moved, already we know the significance of what we're about to hear and already we're eager to hear more. 

The words I found most important and best said begin with “symbolic shadow,  momentous decree, beacon of light, and seared with the flames of withering injustice.” Let's look at the latter one, “seared with the flames of withering injustice,” a passage so simple, yet so powerful. His use of words to describe suffering are brilliant. Seared. Flames. Withering. Examined with a writer's eye, it couldn't have been said better. 

His use of emphasis by repeating the words “one hundred years later” is especially poignant and dramatic, driving his point home, that enough is enough. The paragraph just following this passage is my favorite. King's use of rhetoric are genius not only on a writing level, but to drive his point home orally. “We've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.” and, “they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir,” and he goes on to say, “America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.” Beautiful. King proceeds, “America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”” I get chills when I read that part, especially coupled with the sound of his voice as he delivered the lines. Perhaps the best line of all, “But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”

It's difficult to pick out just certain parts of I Have a Dream, as every line so eloquently flows to the next and holds the same impact of meaning. King ended the speech with the famous words, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at Last!” A spine chilling, triumphant conclusion to one of the country's most memorable speeches.