MLK context

Tone and Mood

The tone of MLK’s I have a dream takes a very celebratory beginning but then shifts to a very forceful tone. Meanwhile this evokes a very inspired mood within the audience. Right off the bat MLK’s speech begins in a very celebratory manner. “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.”. This causes the audience to believe that they are part of a much greater cause and are working towards something great; evoking a very inspired mood. Meanwhile MLK is celebrating both his cause and actions to further his goal of freedom. This very much ties into the context of the text and the civil rights movement. “I Have a Dream” was given at the site of the Emancipation Proclamation signing; a great step towards equality and freedom within the United States. The fact that “I Have a Dream” was given at the same location contributes to the idea and feeling that the speech will have an immense impact on its African-American Audience. Towards the end of the speech MLK’s tone becomes more and more forceful. This is done using the Anaphora of “let freedom ring”. MLK’s confident tone and the auditory imagery all evoke MLK’s newfound forceful tone.

Audience and Purpose

The audience of MLK’s I have a dream is that of African-Americans living in the United States. Its purpose is to rally Americans to the cause of racial justice. The audience of the speech can easily be identified by MLK’s frequent repetition of “America” as well as the context of the speech. The context of the text is the civil rights movement in the United states; therefore the speech is targeted at Americans, especially African-Americans. The purpose of the text is evident in the MLK’s metaphor “In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check”. The check representing the freedom owed to African-American. MLK is calling the audience to take back the freedom the American government owes to oppressed minorities. Once again the speech’s context ties in well into the purpose, which is African-Americans taking back their right to vote.