Speech RA

A Time to Break Silence speech by Martin Luther King-
August 28th 1963


This is an amazing speech that has an amazing message. It is a call to recognize what our world has become, as well as a call to action to change it. Martin Luther King starts off by expressing his feelings toward the war in Vietnam. Most of the speech is about how the war needs to end because it is unnecessary and we are causing a conflict where there should be peace. I believe that the intended audience is to the people of America. It says a lot of things about how the government should change, and what should be done to fix this conflict, but I believe that it is more of a call to action from the people. The speech brings out the conflict that is raging, and lets the people become aware that these terrible things are happening, and why. He then calls them to action by opposing the government, and by banding together. He talks about the heavy sacrifice and burden that is being placed on both continents, and that we are doing more harm than good. After his point about the war is made, his real argument is that we must end the violence and hatred that pollutes our world. He goes on to say that without this brotherhood and unity, our nation and our world will fall apart. He tells the people to set aside race and class and become banded together. He wants the government to change, but his true argument is to convince his audience, or the middle-class patriotic citizens, that we need a world revolution of values. His goal is to convince them to take action in this movement. This argument is definitely made through Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos because as a minister and a social figure, he has some credibility in what he says. Pathos because the emotion he conveys in his speech will draw people in, and will bring them to action. Logos is also used a bit because he uses the logic of war and that it does not fix anything. I think that it was sufficient, effective, accurate, and relevant. It was pretty typical of this time period- when the war was going on, many speeches were given, and many of them were like this one. The speech got a response out of me, and I'm not even the intended target. I think it was effective.