“I Have a Dream” Rhetorical Analysis

1. “I Have a Dream” Rhetorical Analysis Common Errors

2. Rhetorical Analysis • A rhetorical analysis requires you to apply your critical reading skills in order to “break down” a text. • In essence, you break off the “parts” from the “whole” of the piece you’re analyzing. • The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to articulate HOW the author writes, rather than WHAT they actually wrote. • To do this, you will analyze the strategies the author uses to achieve his or her goal or purpose of writing their piece.

3. Common Mistakes: Intro • Lacking a clear, definitive purpose in the introduction. • In a rhetorical analysis, you’re breaking down the way an author is arguing something. You need to show the reader that you understand what that purpose is by stating it clearly in the introduction. • Understanding the context of the document. • Make sure you clearly understand what you’re writing about. • On the exam, this means reading the italics before the document. Don’t make assumptions and don’t guess about the historical context.

4. Audience • You need to make sure you have the correct audience. • Just like having the incorrect tone, having an incorrect understanding of the audience can alter your AP score.

5. Common Mistakes: Analysis • Summarizing the quote rather than analyzing the strategies. • When you give the quote, you’re essentially “breaking off” a piece of the document to analyze. Don’t restate what the quote says! Rather, explainhow & why this “piece” helps the author’s purpose and argument. • Be specific! • Vaguely stating “King hoped to accomplish his task” does not help the reader. What task? What is he trying to do? How does he do it?

6. Quotes => Purpose • CHOOSE QUOTES WISELY. • Would establishing ethos here be necessary? If not, then have a clear tie to why you’re discussing the ethos in relation to the purpose. • Is discussing non-violence necessary to the purpose?

7. Quote Analysis • King goes on to describe that “the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.” • What could you discuss here?

8. Quote Analysis • Discuss the ACTUAL quote that you’ve chosen. • Point out specific words that were used in the quote. • Break up the quote and tie it back to the analysis!

9. Quote Analysis • “Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check.”

10. Quote Analysis • “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”

11. Quote Analysis • “Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.”