Team 4: I Have a Dream Passage Analysis by Alice Chen

Background Image

311702 — 2015-02-13 21:45:53 UTC

"King Speaking at an Anti-Vietnam War Rally" by OttawaAC licensed under CC BY SA-2.0

Passage Analysis

311702 — 2015-02-13 21:46:05 UTC

Dr. King's overall point of this passage is for the Negro community to combat the physical brutality and injustice with non-violence. The community must rise above their abusers into a plane of nobility and dignity in order to accomplish their goal.

Passage: Something That I Must Say to My People

311702 — 2015-02-13 21:45:08 UTC

"But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."

Refrain

311702 — 2015-02-13 21:46:01 UTC

The refrain in this section is 'we must'. It is repeated several times throughout this section, bringing emphasis to the things that people must overcome on their long journey to freedom.

Creative Commons License

311702 — 2015-02-18 18:25:28 UTC

This work is published under a CC BY NC-SA-4.0 license by Team 4 in Ms. Chen's class.

Metaphor

311702 — 2015-02-13 21:45:58 UTC

There is a metaphor in this section, "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." This is a metaphor because Dr. King is comparing the process to get their freedom to a cup of bitterness, he is saying that the way is tough and hard, bitter, like the metaphor says.