Rhetorical Analysis of I'Ve Been To The Mountaintop Speech

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This is what Martin Luther King said in one of his last speeches at Minnesota’s St. Paul campus, April 27th, 1967. This is important because Martin Luther King is trying to create justice for everyone, especially people of color. Wednesday, April 3rd, 1968, on one stormy evening, Martin Luther King arrives at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis, TN, to deliver his final speech. In his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech,  Martin Luther King Jr. utilizes emotionally charged language, facts and statistics, and figurative language to persuade his audience to nonviolently protest for the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers.

Martin Luther King is trying to persuade his audience to nonviolently protest for the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers, through emotionally charged language. Firstly, Martin Luther King claims that the problems are injustice and unfair to the city of Memphis. “The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public sanitation workers” (King, 15). This will persuade the audience because they want equal rights along with Martin Luther King, so they want to make it right for the sanitation workers of Memphis. Next, Martin Luther King wants the audience to join him in a non-violent protest for the sanitation workers, in order to survive. “Survival demands that we grapple with them” (King, 10).

This helps prove the claim because Martin Luther King wants to join the sanitation workers in a non-violence protest, to get them what they want, their rights. Martin Luther King wants to get his audience to protest non-violently to help the sanitation workers win their rights. Facts and statistics is another way that Martin Luther King uses to persuade his audience to nonviolently protest for the Memphis sanitation workers and their rights.

To start it off, Martin Luther King explains to the audience how the press only spoke about the violence that happened in Memphis. “You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking … They seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers are on strike” (King, 15). This supports the claim because the press only dealt with the violence in Memphis, not anything about the sanitation workers being treated unfairly. Then, Martin Luther King draws a claim that even the small things can make an enormous difference. “The next morning, if I had merely sneezed, I would have died” (King, 46). This will explain to the audience that even a small non-violent protest can help make things right for the sanitation workers of Memphis. Martin Luther King is using facts and statistics to give in to his audience about non-violent protests.

Figurative language is one last way Martin Luther King tries to persuade his audience to non-violently protest for the sanitation workers. Now, Martin Luther King is stating he’s happy to see his audience gathered together through a storm warning. “I’m delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning” (King, 1). Martin Luther King uses ‘storm warning’ as figurative language because not only was there a storm that night, he also ties the violence in Memphis to one big storm. Finally, “And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were Baptist or some other denominations, we had been immersed. … That couldn’t stop us” (King, 17). Martin Luther King wasn't going to let just a little bit of water stop him from leading in with non-violent protests for the sanitation workers. Figurative language is one of the many ways that Martin Luther King tried to convince his audience to nonviolently protest for the rights of the sanitation workers.

Martin Luther King makes good use of emotionally charged language, facts and statistics, and figurative language to bring his audience around to nonviolently protest for the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers. Martin Luther King used emotionally charged language in his speech by talking about the injustice of Memphis. He also used facts and statistics by speaking of what the press never spoke about. One last rhetorical choice Martin Luther King used in his speech was figurative language. Figurative language was used by comparing storm warnings to the violence that had happened in Memphis. With all of this said, Martin Luther King and his claim, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” the violence of Memphis is a threat to the peace of everywhere else. Therefore stating that everyone should come together to nonviolently protest so that the sanitation workers of Memphis can get their rights back.