Question

What kinds of figurative language does King use in his speech to describe inequality [RI.4] and the work of the Civil Rights Movement? What is the impact of this language?

Explain examples from at least two different paragraphs of the speech.

Answer 1

Metaphor: King compares injustice and oppression to sweltering heat and freedom and justice to an oasis. Analysis: King repeats the sweltering heat metaphor toward the end of the speech, referring specifically to Mississippi, a state where some of the worst offenses against blacks had been carried out.