I Have Been to A Mountaintop

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I’ve been to the Mountaintop
Martin Luther King Jr gave an exceptional speech “I’ve been to the Mountaintop.” The speech concentrated on ethnic equality for all men and women both black and white. Luther’s primary motive was to introduce a bond between blacks and whites all over America and the world and to ensure that everyone enjoys equal rights. In the speech, he employed the use of rhetorical devices such as logos ethos and pathos to influence his audience to treat all people equally despite the race of a person. Despite Luther having good motives, not everyone received them well which resulted in his assassination only a few hours after delivering the speech. The rhetoric context of the speech suggests that Luther had been watching the occurrences that were taking place and had made a conclusion that there had to be equality for people to lead a harmonious life.
Ethos as an oratorical device plea to the audience’s integrity of the presenter and his or her opinions. Martin Luther was well known for his nonviolence and civil disobedience against the authorities to ensure a better life for the ordinary beings. He was also a renown Clergyman and civil rights activist where he executed the duties excellently. He was an excellent orator. From Luther’s speech, the statement “Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly, Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech,” (King 4) was talking about clauses which were contained in the constitution.

The constitution is a crucial document not only to the United States but to every country in the world that follows it. The statement pleaded to a large number of white women and women and facilitated them to realizing that both whites and blacks are all equal.
Logos as a rhetorical device plea to the audience’s logical aptitude. The ability of the audience to reason influences the development of logic in them. That will, in turn, evoke a virtual seeing that will enhance reasoning out the realness of what one hears. The medium of delivery is the word of mouth which will be determined by the number of listeners. The speech was to be delivered to a broad audience thus the medium had to be enhanced for the audience to develop an excellent visual out of the speech. The perspective was directed to helping people and instilling the idea that everyone is equal to the other.
Luther uses this plea to influence those who were not stirred by his moral appeals. The quote “… and force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God’s children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out,” pleas to the rational thoughts in various ways depending on a person’s interest (King, 3). The quote tends to be a unique one in the entire speech because it exposes the truth behind inequality. People who are interested in logic tend to be moved by the quote due to the sense that it invokes in them. The Children in the quote are living in hunger, and some succumb to it because they are not taken care of, and no attention is shown to them. Luther placed that quote very well regarding the large number of people that it affected. Failing to take care of the children will result in the killing of the future generation. The statement very well developed such logic.
Pathos as a rhetorical device plea to the audience’s perception of emotion. Individuals who develop feelings towards traits such as crying or feeling sorry for someone or something always pay take consideration of the dramatic occurrences that happen around them. One quote that Luther used is “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century I will be happy,” (King 2). The quote is valid because it illustrates that he would like to witness as the change that he is fighting for to be felt all across United States change and the World. Paradoxically, Luther was assassinated Just after the day of delivering the speech. From the quote, Luther implied that not just him that would like to leave a longer life to experience the achievement, but everyone would like to live long and see the change. To achieve change, everyone had to feel the effects of what was happening and as a result, take a step to change make that feeling better.
The intended audience of the speech were all citizens of the united states and all over the world where inequality was predominant. From the speech and as said above, Luther in his speech included everybody despite the race or the gender. He said that equality had to be achieved for both women and men and white and black which constitutes everyone all over the world and not just in the United States. I came to that conclusion because Luther directed the speech to everyone and had did not bias any particular country or a specific group of people. The predominant subject of the speech was a focus on enhancing equality to every all over the world.
Focus, text and visual complement each other by giving support and providing better delivery of the other. Visual add information to the text through making the audience develop a deeper understanding and not just concentrating on what the text suggests. Visual broadens the field that the field covers bringing in a broader understanding. Its placed in at the point where the text tries to develop logic out of the occurrences that were happening. Its development occurs right from the title which establishes reasoning in the minds of the audience.
Work Cited
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King, Martin L. I’ve Been to the Mountaintop. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994. Print.
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