First, King’s choice of words shows a contrast between the situation in the past and how it should change in the present to make a better future. To show this contrast, King uses negative and positive words. He starts his speech by explaining the situation in the past and present, by using negative words such as “discrimination,” “injustice,” “captivity,” and “segregation.” All these words show the strong racial injustice in America. In the second part King paints a future of fairer and better racial harmony and integration, using some positive words “brotherhood,” “freedom,” and “justice.”
Secondly, King uses repetition to emphasize certain ideas in his speech. To stress his picture of the future in America, where there is no racism and everybody is free, King uses repetition. He repeated the phrase “I Have a Dream” to stress his hope for the future. Then he uses it for a third time to give an example of racism in Mississippi and show that the change in this state is included in his expectation for the future of the nation. “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 desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. King uses repetition also to illustrate his hope for equality between blacks and whites. “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.” King uses repetition to confirm his principal goal: freedom. “Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of