Now he talks about the issues and that they should avoid violence. King uses antithesis as he talks about gaining the rightful place and not being guilty of wrongful deeds. He uses this for the sentence afterwards, which I believe he uses powerful words such as ‘the cup of bitterness’. Towards the end of this paragraph he uses repetition of two words in a long sentence. Then King delivers a short sentence. He uses this device with a long sentence then a short one to make the short sentence more powerful. He uses this device on the first line of the next paragraph, stating that we cannot turn back.
King then speaks about trying to motivate the Negroes to carry on this fight so the white man doesn’t take-over. He uses a rhetorical question and lists of three, which answer this question. He uses repetition in his list of the words of ‘we can never be satisfied’. Towards the end he uses two similes in one sentence, ‘until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty dream.’ These two similes are showing that they will not be satisfied until justice is completely perfect.
Martin Luther King delivers the rest of his speech explaining about his visions and his dream. He states this by using the words ‘I have a dream’ frequently. He uses different parts of America such as ‘the red hills of Georgia’ and ‘the state of Alabama’ to show that he is helping all of America. He uses antithesis about his four little children not being ‘judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.’ After this he builds up to this big climax which s showing that with this faith they will be free again.
King uses the American National Anthem in his speech to show that the words in this song are saying ‘let freedom ring’. He uses this statement for different places in the United States. The mighty mountains of New York and the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire are for the North-eastern of Untied States, Stone Mountain of Georgia and molehill of Mississippi are for the southern states and the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado and the curvaceous peaks of California are the western states.
Elei Weisel delivers his speech by trying to make you imagine what it was like. He uses repetition of the word ‘less’ and puts words in front of this to make the victims stand out, such as ‘stateless, faceless and nameless’. You can tell he wants you to imagine this as he says ‘Close your eyes and look.’
He then wants you to listen as if you were there as he says ‘Close you eyes and listen.’ He shows that if this continued the whole population could have died suggesting that the army was so big.
Weisel then talks about the nationality of people who were there. These included Gypsies, Poles and the Czechs, but all the Jews were victims. Auschwitz was a forced-labour and extermination centre. About a quarter of a million people died between 1941-1945. He then asks why this happened and repeats the words ‘now, as then’. He believes it is not to yield to hatred, to fight fanaticism and the violence and the terror.
After this he says that it was cruel the way they were trapped. He uses a rhetorical question about what kind of person could have invented this system. This was Adolf Hitler who wanted to do this in his attempts to conquer the world. On the next paragraph a short sentence summed it up, ‘It worked’. This gives you an insight into what happened at this camp situated in Poland. He uses repetition on the words ‘what happened’, because they starved to death or worked I factories to die.
Elei Weisel then states this was world news and it would change their lives forever. He backs this up with these powerful words, ‘Nothing will be the same again.’ He then wants you to remember this and what it was like and that we should commemorate their death.
Towards the end Elei Weisel says that we should stop what is going on now. In Bosnia, which declared its independence from former Yugoslavia in1991 and was invaded by the Serbian-dominated Federal Army? In Rwanda where genocide took place and the Hutus hatcheting to death. He says that we shall ‘Remember the morality of the human condition’. This is showing that many people don’t care as he uses the words ‘where else’ suggesting this and that is the only possibility.
Both speeches end by looking towards the future. Martin Luther King ends on a note of determined optimism whereas Elei Weisel is less confident.
Martin Luther King delivers his speech at the end by continuing the repetition of ‘letting freedom ring’ in every house everywhere in the U.S.A. and that different religious people can join hands and sing. The last line shows that Martin Luther King is optimistic because he repeats the words ‘free at last’ which state he’s hopeful for the future. However King was assassinated in 1968, but his dream of a country without racial discrimination lives on today.
I believe Martin Luther King’s speech was powerful and effective because he used many devices to affect what he was saying especially repetition which I can believe that the words that are repeated stay in your mind.
Elei Weisel delivers his speech at the end by trying to remember the children who died. He is not as optimistic as Martin Luther King but at then end he repeats the word ‘weep’ which I can believe sums up Auschwitz. A chamber full of innocent people dying. He was a survivor of Auschwitz so he went through all this and can know the whole truth of Auschwitz.
