The intended
audience of MLK’s speech is the people of “my country”, America, that had
gathered as a result of the Civil Rights Movement at the “nation’s capital”. However,
his words are envisioned to affect the whole of the country. The crowd
listening to his speech was a mixture of both races, which was evident through
his objectifications. MLK intended to unify the black population through his
speech by referring to them as “we”. His repetitive use of “we can never” “we
must” and “we have” further brings the black community together. MLK as well
objectifies the white population by classing them as “America” and “them”. “They
have” and “America has” shows how he purposely bordered the specific demographic.
Though, the speech was mainly directed at the white people and their segregated
actions.
The purpose
of the speech is to motivate the nation’s people to eliminate racial segregation,
as it acts as a ‘call to action’. Through the speech, MLK reminds the public of
how they have abandoned their promises, by stating how the country had “defaulted”
on the Declaration of Independence. MLK highlights how America (the white’s)
have “crippled” the life of blacks, and how they are “exile in [their] own land”.
MLK states his dream of widespread racial justice, and wishes for white and
blacks to “join hands”, and for people to rather be judged on the content of
their character. He hopes to be able to influence racial justice throughout the
whole country, so that the next generation can live with equal rights. As well,
MLK expresses the power the black community withhold together, and not to
underestimate them.
The speech
is constructed around MLK’s optimistic views for the future of the nation,
which are introduced after reminding the audience of the harsh reality of the
black community. A relevant theme of the speech is hope, as his optimistic and
stern tone carries throughout the whole speech. His repeated use of grammatical structure such as “let freedom ring” and “I have a dream” emphasize his optimistic views. By unifying the black community
through his guiding commands, this creates a powerful mood. MLK uses parallel structure
in order to promote the powerful mood. By using parallel structure, he is able
to create a flow from one idea to another, allowing him to end on a ‘call to
action’ note.
