Rhetorical Analysis Of Where Do We Go From Here

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Through the darkest of times, it is a natural human instinct to search for a source of hope and motivation in which they can entrust their fate upon. Martin Luther King provides inspiration for fellow black people through one of his many speeches, ‘Where do we go from here?’, focussing on the “divine dissatisfaction”; with the use of techniques to persuade his audience such as tone, imagery, rhetorical and other devices.
‘Where do go from here?’ has a purpose to encourage and motivate people to take a stand against unequal treatment of black people, and to fight for equality and freedom. King subtly instructs the audience to “be dissatisfied until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character and not on the basis of colour of their skin”. The main priority in this speech is to convince people to persevere through “difficult and painful” times “with an audacious faith in the future”. King seeks to provide a source of “courage to face the uncertainties of the future” so the people are able to withstand “dreary” “hovering clouds of despair”. The truth of the conflict is addressed as “rocky places of frustration and meandering points of bewilderment”,
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Alliteration is used to create a mood and a rhythm to a section of the speech. King says “our dreams will sometimes be shattered”, focussing on the ‘s’ sound to imply the danger of losing dreams. James Weldon Johnson was also focussed on by King as Johnson was described as “a great freedom fighter”; the use of alliteration here emphasises on “great”. Assonance is used to create an internal rhyme in order to make a phrase or sentence memorable. “Yesterdays of segregated schools” rhymes internally, making it a notable phrase. Alliteration and assonance plays a small, but crucial role in highlighting certain phrases to make it