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Damian Macias

Saravia 1

English 11

6 October 2016

Ive been to the Mountaintop

Ive been to the Mountaintop, by Martin Luther King, Jr is an exceptionally moving

speech that emphasized racial equality for all men and women, both black and white. The speech

was delivered Aril 3, 1968 in the Church of God in Christ Headquarters, Memphis Tennessee,

just the day before the Kings assassination. King uses a serious and subtle tone, there were times

where he was somewhat aggressive and other times where he just went straight to the point. His

goal was to unite the people of America, blacks and whites, and to give them all equal rights. The

King uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade his audience into

treating all people fairly.

Ethos is a rhetorical device that appeals to an audiences credibility of the speaker and to

his or her beliefs. Dr. King made a statement that greatly showed ethos, Somewhere I read of

freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. This single line from the

entire speech moved much of the audience because of the fact that hes talking about the

Constitution. The Constitution is the most important paper in American History, and this

appealed to a lot of white men, and so it helped them realize how blacks and white really are the

same. Dr. King believed that civil rights belonged to all men and women, not just whites.
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Logos is a rhetorical device that appeals to the audiences logical appeal. The audience is

swayed by their appeal to reason and logic. Mr. King uses this appeal to persuade those who

were not really moved by his ethnical appeals. For everybody to see that there are 1500 of

Gods children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark nights wondering

how things are going to work out, is a quote that appeals to rational thoughts. People more

interested in the logical are most likely moved by this quote than in any other quote in the entire

speech because is exposes the truth behind segregation. Children are going hungry every night,

and more are dying of starvation because white people dont bother to feed or pay any attention

to these children. So, this quote was very well said by the King because of how many people it

affected.

Last but not least, pathos is a rhetorical device that appeals to the audiences sense of

emotion. People who tend to be more emotional towards things, for example crying and feeling

bad towards someone or something, tend to pay attention more to the dramatic things. One quote

Dr. King uses is If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth

century, I will be happy. This quote is effective because he is saying that he would like to live

long enough to see the United States change. But ironically, the King is assassinated just the day

after the speech is delivered. This quote explains that not just he wants to live long enough to see

the country change, but all blacks would like to live long enough to see the U.S change.

In conclusion Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was one of the worlds most effective orators

that ever lived. His speeches can be found throughout the web and in books in libraries across the

world. His professional use of ethos, pathos and logos persuaded many to treat all humans fairly.

Because of his success, even past his death, Dr. King is an icon who inspires many public
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speakers to this day and will always be remembered in everyones minds and hearts as one of the

greatest public speakers to ever stand on a podium.