Dear Dr. King,
I found your speech, “I Have a Dream” very intriguing after reading it perhaps the third time noticing a pattern like use of metaphors, emphasis and reiterations. One phrase which strongly resonates with me is in the beginning of your speech where you say “but one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the negro is still 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.” (p. 404) This resonates with me because I believe decades later we still feel some effects of segregation and discrimination. I believe your technique of metaphors to be a very effective tool of “dramatizing an appalling condition” as well as creating emphasis.

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” there is also a pattern of metaphors and reiterations which I believe to be a technique of creating emphasis on your main points or ideas, which I believe to be a very effective technique. I think the main ideas and messages of your “I Have a Dream” speech and your “Letter from Birmingham Jail” are very similar, if not the same, however one difference between “I Have a Dream” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is that the speech was inspirational and discusses your visions for the future while the letter discusses your experience in prison as well as the experiences of injustices of blacks in the community of Birmingham.