Metaphors

In Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”, he incorporates many metaphors and symbols to further captivate the interest of his audience. King’s use of metaphors, along with his symbolic references assists the reader’s understanding of the speech’s purpose. The metaphors and symbols found helps push forth King’s message in the speech, to fight against segregation and discrimination with integrity of character and without violence to achieve complete freedom. “This momentous decree came as a great __beacon light of hope__ to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the __flames of withering injustice__.” The “momentous decree” he is referring to is the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a document published in 1863 that freed every African American slave. The Proclamation, unfortunately, did not change the conditions of the African Americans in the United States. Therefore, he called the unchanged conditions “flames of withering injustice.” He refers to this injustice in the next section of his speech. “It came as a __joyous daybreak__ to end the __long night of their captivity__.” The beacon light of hope he referred to earlier is continued in this extended metaphor; he describes it to be a joyous daybreak after many years of being slaves in America. “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly __crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination;__ one hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely __island of poverty__ in the midst of a __vast ocean of material prosperity.__” Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was passed as a solution to free the slaves, they were still bound by segregation, which became legalized in the // Plessy v. Ferguson //case on May 18, 1896. The segregation and discrimination still bound the former slaves to inequality in a society that promised equal opportunities for all citizens.  · King compares the segregation as an “island of prosperity in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” Why would he compare their situation to an isolated island in an ocean? “It is obvious today that America has __defaulted on this promissory note__ in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a __bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."__ But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are __insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.__ And so we’ve come __to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.__” The note that King is showing the reader, is a note of unfair representation to the slaves. It is the freedom that the slaves were promised, which unfortunately was not enforced, therefore he compares the continued unfair treatment of African Americans to “insufficient funds”. “This __sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent__ will not pass until there is __an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.__” The “heat” of the injustice served to African Americans through segregation agitated the African Americans and the freedom which they seek to obtain would cool down their agitation and finally give the former slaves the satisfaction of a battle they have been fighting for many decades.  · Why would King compare the situations the black men and women have endured to seasons? “Let us not seek to __satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.__” King uses the cup of bitterness and hatred as a way to enforce the realization of their goals through peaceful movements and demonstrations.  · King is clearly taking a similar approach that Gandhi did in responding to discrimination. How would this approach convince the oppressors for equality?  · Or do you think it would be taken as a joke by the white men? “With this faith we will be able to __hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope__. With this faith we will be able to transform the __jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.__” The metaphor of brotherhood is used to attract the audience to a bond with their oppressors of equality and freedom. Brotherhood is a metaphor for the connection the King hopes the former slaves and white men will share.  · In what ways do you believe the idea of a “brotherhood” would motivate the audience to do what King is asking for in his speech?  · If you were told that, by joining a movement for your own freedom, you would be given “brotherhood” to your oppressors, would you be more or less encouraged to join the movement?