Defining characteristics
Speech
Allusion - Allusion is when one refers to the words of someone else. Including allusion in a speech
gives it more ethos.
Referring to slave songs and the Bill of Rights are just a couple of allusions used by MLK, a
technique that relies on the audience’s knowledge and a shared system of values. Allusion adds
credit or ethos to a speech. In other words, the people of America should care about what Martin
Luther King is saying because he is quoting their Bill of Rights, a founding document of their
country.
Attention grabber - You can grab the audience's attention in several ways, with a quote, a joke, or
a big, bold statement.
King starts by saying that it will be one of the most important days in the history of mankind. That's
a rather bold statement.
Bond - Gaining a rapport with your audience is easier when you say inclusive plurals like ‘we’,
‘our’, or ‘us’. Bond is very much a part of ethos.
Besides referring to the common destiny of blacks and ‘our white brothers’, MLK also talks about
‘one great nation’ and repeats the word ‘together’.
Destination - Where is this speech going? Why should people continue to listen?
King sets the stage. He refers to Lincoln's promise and says it is a broken promise. We want to
know why it is broken, and so we listen on.
Figurative speech - Using metaphors and similes is one way of making abstract ideas become
concrete.
‘Injustice’ cannot literally be hot, nor can oppression be ‘sweltering’. That is way we call this type
of talk ‘figurative’ speech. MLK’s speech is full of it.
Parallelisms - A parallelism is grammatical construction in which the form of several sentence parts
line up nicely in a sequence.
In the sentence that reads, ‘With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to
struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be
free one day,’ we see the infinitive verb used five times followed by the adverb ‘together’.
Anaphora - This refers to the repetition of a particular idea or phrase.
‘I have a dream’ are the words we remember from this speech because MLK repeats them
poetically. In essay writing this stylistic device is not usually encouraged. For the spoken language
we see that it works quite nicely.
Varied sentence length - Long sentences with many clauses, which state several points related to
the main point like this one, can become highly effective when off-set with a kind of powerful
punchy small sentence that follows shortly thereafter. This is one.
We see MLK doing this at the end of the fourth paragraph when he says, ‘We cannot walk alone.’
I Have a Dream
Martin Luther King
1963
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration
for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the
Emancipation Proclamation. 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. It came as a
joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. 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. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society
and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful
condition.
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 distrust of all white people, for many ofour
white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is
tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk
alone.
[...]
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We
hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of
former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of
injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom
and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his
lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little
black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters
and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made
low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. 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. With this faith we will
be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand
up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My
country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of
the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
Text #2
D I S A PP OI N T M E N T IS T H E LO T O F WO M E N
1855
––––––––––––––––––––––––– Lucy Stone ––––––––––––––––––––––––
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Lucy Stone (1818–1893) earned money as a teacher to pay for
her college education. Her participation in the abolitionist movement and other moral reform efforts
gave her experience as a political activist and public speaker which carried into the struggle for
women’s rights. In 1848, she delivered this speech at the Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca
Falls, New York, to rally support for the women’s rights struggle.
How did Stone define “rights” in this speech?
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
From the first years to which my memory stretches, I have been a disappointed woman. When, with
my brothers, I reached forth after the sources of knowledge, I was reproved with “It isn’t fit for you;
it doesn’t belong to women.” Then there was but one college in the world where women were
admitted, and that was in Brazil. I would have found my way there, but by the time I was prepared
to go, one was opened in the young State of Ohio—the first in the United States where women and
Negroes could enjoy opportunities with white men. I was disappointed when I came to seek a
profession worthy an immortal being—every employment was closed to me, except those of the
teacher, the seamstress, and the housekeeper. In education, in marriage, in religion, in everything,
disappointment is the lot of woman. It shall be the business of my life to deepen this disappointment
in every woman’s heart until she bows down to it no longer. I wish that women, instead of being
walking showcases, instead of begging of their fathers and brothers the latest and gayest new
bonnet, would ask of them their rights.
The question of Woman’s Rights is a practical one. The notion has prevailed that it was only an
ephemeral idea; that it was but women claiming the right to smoke cigars in the streets, and to
frequent bar rooms. Others have supposed it a question of comparative intellect; others still, of
sphere. Too much has already been said and written about woman’s sphere. Trace all the doctrines
to their source and they will be found to have no basis except in the usages and prejudices of the
age. This is seen in the fact that what is tolerated in woman in one country is not tolerated in
another. In this country women may hold prayer meetings, etc., but in Mohammedan countries it is
written upon their mosques, “Women and dogs, and other impure animals, are not permitted to
enter.” Wendell Phillips says, “The best and greatest thing one is capable of doing, that is his
sphere.” I have confidence in the Father to believe that when He gives us the capacity to do
anything He does not make a blunder. Leave women, then, to find their sphere. And do not tell us
before we are born even, that our province is to cook dinners, darn stockings, and sew on buttons.
We are told woman has all the rights she wants; and even women, I am ashamed to say, tell us so.
They mistake the politeness of men for rights—seats while men stand in this hall tonight, and their
adulations; but these are mere courtesies. We want rights. The flour merchant, the house builder,
and the postman charge us no less on account of our sex; but when we endeavor to earn money to
pay all these, then, indeed, we find the difference. Man, if he have energy, may hew out for himself
a path where no mortal has ever trod, held back by nothing but what is in himself; the world is all
before him, where to choose; and we are glad for you, brothers, men, that is so. But the same
society that drives forth the young man, keeps woman at home—a dependent—working little cats
on worsted, and little dogs on punctured paper; but if she goes heartily and bravely to give herself to
some worthy purpose, she is out of her sphere and she loses caste. Women working in tailor shops
are paid one-third as much as men. Someone in Philadelphia has stated that women make fine shirts
for twelve and a half cents apiece; that no woman can make more than nine a week, and the sum
thus earned, after deducting rent, fuel, etc., leaves her just three and a half cents a day for bread. Is it
a wonder that women are driven to prostitution? Female teachers in New York are paid fifty dollars
a year, and for every such situation there are five hundred applications. I know not what you believe
of God, but I believe He gave yearnings and longings to be filled, and that He did not mean all our
time should be devoted to feeding and clothing the body. The present condition of woman causes a
horrible perversion of the marriage relation. It is asked of a lady, “Has she married well?” “Oh, yes,
her husband is rich.” Woman must marry for a home, and you men are the sufferers by this; for a
woman who loathes you may marry you because you have the means to get money which she can
not have. But when woman can enter the lists with you and make money for herself, she will marry
you only for deep and earnest affection.
I am detaining you too long, many of you standing, that I ought to apologize,but women have been
wronged so long that I may wrong you a little....I have seen a woman at manual labor turning out
chair-legs in a cabinetshop, with a dress short enough not to drag in the shavings. I wish other
women would imitate her in this. It made her hands harder and broader, it is true, but I think a hand
with a dollar and a quarter a day in it, better than one with a crossed ninepence....The widening of
woman’s sphere is to improve her lot. Let us do it, and if the world scoff, let it scoff—if it sneer, let
it sneer.
Source: “Disappointment Is the Lot of Women” by Lucy Stone. Reprinted in History of Woman
Suffrage, vol. 1, edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (New York: Fowler and Wells, 1922), pp. 165–
167.
A List Of Funny Persuasive Speech Topics:
1
2
3
5
6
7
8
9
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
‘Little people’ is less offensive than ‘dwarf’ or ‘midget.’
Women are genetically disposed to not be funny.
Save paper towels, save the forests. (Shake hands before using the
paper, fold the paper towel and dry.
Scientists should stop talking jargon to us and make ideas accessible.
Parking and coffee to be included in college tuition fee.
How to handle well-meaning people you don’t like.
Why you deserve to be the boss instead of your boss.
Prints of body parts other than fingers should be taken. Like ear prints.
(Talk of the burglar caught by his ear-print on the window glass – he
was listening to find out if the coast was clear)
Blondes ARE stupid.
Men should never wear skinny jeans.
Grades don’t matter.
The work week should be shorter.
Horror movies are good for experiencing the adrenaline rush.
Funny pick up lines work.
Blaming the horoscope when things go wrong helps.
With a woman as a president, there would be more wars.
It is not wrong to steal bread to feed your family.
Women have to leave the seat up for men’s convenience.
Schools should ban Harry Potter for promoting witchcraft.
How playing games raised your IQ.
A thumb is a finger.
Reverse discrimination.
Men are happier than women.
If a woman hits a man, he should be able to hit back without it being
called abuse.