SAT essay Martin Luther King Jr.

jhgfdbnmbgfd
Mon, 25 Sep 2017 18:24:30 +0000

Sorry, forgot to actually put my essay. My bad. Here it is:

In his speech “Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence”, Martin Luther King Jr. urges the listeners to think of American involvement in the Vietnam war as unjust. The author employs the use of emotional appeal, figurative language, and a personal anecdote to convince the audience of his viewpoint.

King begins by showing the devastating effects of the Vietnam war on the people in poverty. “It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor… Then came the build up in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated”. The hopes for a better future for the poor is destroyed by the war. The author establishes the ugly side and the horrible effects the war has, causing the audience to empathize with those who are in need.

Another way King gets the audience engaged is through figurative language.“Adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube”, by using this example, King successfully characterizes the war as a destructive force, causing nothing but pain and agony. This draws the audiences’ attention to what the Vietnam war is actually doing. “For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent”. By using parallelism here, King emphasizes the need to stop the war. The audience is convinced by this point of the terrible effects of the war, and can sympathize more with the poor people of America.
Finally, through the use of a personal anecdote, we’re able to connect with King and his values. When King stresses nonviolent action, he’s asked by many, “What about Vietnam?”. If their own country is using violence, why don’t hey? This establishes and stresses that King isn’t in support of using violence, and he’s willing to speak up and fight (although peacefully) against it. This shows who King is in terms of his values and morals, and the audience can’t help but connect and agree with such a person.
According to King, the cruelty of the Vietnam war and its unfairness must stop. Using several techniques, such as figurative language and a personal anecdote, King aims to persuade the audience of what he believes.