Dear Mr.King,

One powerful aspect of your speech was your repeated use of repetition throughout. However, the most important and effective use of repetition in my opinion was “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed…I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted…together”(406-407). This was the climax of the entire speech. Your repeated use of “I have a dream” drove home the point that this is not something definite, like a plan. It stems from ambition, and you basically told your audience that the only way to achieve this dream is to act now and act together. I believe that when people are told of a plan, they assume it is definite and therefore many people will not act on it, thinking they play a small role. An example of this would be voting for our Presidents. Millions of people decide not to vote, thinking his/her role is insignificant. Where as an election like this past one, we saw they every single vote would have had a significant impact.

I noticed you also used this repetition strategy in your Birmingham jail letter. Your explanation of the daily struggles of black people and how white people do not experience the same experience, going from seeing “vicious mobs lynching your mothers and fathers at will” to name becoming “nigger boy John”(2), I believe really helped show these oppressors why blacks and their movements could no longer “wait”.