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Laura Gates
Veena Raman
CAS137H
9/29/14
Martin Luther King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
Martin Luther king Jr. was one of the most influential people of the 21th century. Even
fifty plus years later, his message is still believed in and studied today. In some ways, the ideas he
brought forth in his speeches can still be applicable to social issues that are happening in the
United States today. One of the most iconic moments in King’s life was when he addressed his
movement from human rights on the world’s stage; educating the audience all the while accepting
the Nobel Peace Prize. The speech is still remembered today as one of his most influential
performances and arguably took his cause to the next level of social activism. Not only was it very
effectual and meaningful, but it had a certain literary value in its use of rhetoric to persuade his
very large audience to care about his cause.
On October 14, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of an auditorium full of
important people from all over the word to receive the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. It took place at the
University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway. He got the award for his passion and hard work in shaping an
innovative movement in the United States; a movement that fought for the human rights of black
americans and the equality of all people. Early on in his life, he began to be vocal about his
opinions and played a significant role in many of the important aspects of the movement, like the
Montgomery Bus Boycott and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC), which utilized acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to spread the message of equality.
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As almost everyone knows, Martin Luther King Jr. gave many speeches in his day; not just
the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Without his powerful public speaking abilities, his
message wouldn’t have reached so many people and touched so many lives. Some of his more
famous speeches include “I have a dream” and his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” speech. His
public voice had evolved from his early career as a pastor at his church in Montgomery, Alabama,
where most of his early works were inspired by his Christian beliefs. He also was a pacifist to
some extent, and built many of his works off the idea of nonviolence and using love and
forgiveness to solve problems. In fact, it was his use of nonviolence which earned him the Nobel
Peace Prize in the first place. The Nobel Committee had praised him for being the first person in
the United States to really wage a great struggle without the use of violence.
King had mixed feelings about receiving the award. When he gave his acceptance speech,
he spoke in a grave tone that suggested he wasn’t happy with their decision to give him the award.
He made it clear in his argument that he was solely accepting it on behalf of everyone else who
had also made an effort, and tried to remove himself from the center of the situation. It’s weird to
think that someone would be upset receiving such a great honor, but he gave a great argument as to
why he isn’t celebrating. In the speech, King talked about how although he had made a lot of great
strides in the war against racial injustice, there is still a lot to be done. He stressed the point that the
fight isn’t over it doesn’t end just because he got an award for it. He had just made a great start.
He was correct; even today, so many years later, we still struggle with inequalities in our country’s
social structure. It takes many years of effort, generations even, to completely change the mindset
of a whole country.
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All in all, although it was just an acceptance speech, King took advantage of his time on
the world’s stage to talk about what really matters. He used many different literary techniques and
persuasive appeals to strengthen his argument and draw in the listeners. For example, he uses ethos
in the speech to appeal to delegates from nations outside the United States. Since segregation and
racial prejudices weren’t necessarily as prevalent in other countries, he geared his speech to talk
more so about peace and equality on a more general, global standpoint. This way, people from
other countries can connect to his ideas more. It was also clearly spoken and organized topically
into sections. With a speech written in this manner, it helped him gain more respect and credibility
from others. In this way, ethos was used to indirectly influence the audience’s points of view and
give Martin Luther King jr’s proposed ideologies an increased sense of respect and power.
Pathos is also a persuasive appeal that is often used in Martin Luther King’s speeches. In
particular, he evokes emotion in the audience from the first line
that 22 million Negro people are
fighting racial injustice while he is accepting an award. It’s a powerful fact that can really hit home
for quite a lot of people. King inserted a lot of these cold facts into the speech because he felt that
they were essential in making an impact however unpleasant to hear about. He also does this
using literary techniques like personification, where he applies humanistic descriptions to
nonhuman nouns. An example is when he says: “I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on
the bloodflowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme
among the children of men.” In this example, he is using the imagery of a fallen soldier in war to
describe justice. This way, it hits closer to home as people can relate to it better.
Later in the speech, he began to shift his focus and talk more so about our civic duty as a
planet to lead ourselves down a road to global peace and unity. This is a great example of how he
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began to incorporate logos to build off his use of pathos. King used this effect to almost pressure
the audience first he inspired them to make a difference in their community, and after
fundamentally told them that all humanity will crumble in a downward spiral if we don’t. His
argumentation was hard to disagree with, and his words made people look at things with a different
perspective challenging the common ideologies of that day and age. In this way, King
implemented logos as well as pathos to almost complement and build off each other to make the
speech as effective as possible.
The way in which King performed the acceptance speech also shows pathos and logos. He
is usually known for his very passionate, almost dramatic readings of his works where the
audience gets really into it. People will become overwhelmed with emotion and sometimes yell or
chant in agreement with his words. The Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech had a very
contrasted dynamic to it, but nonetheless still evoked emotion in the audience just in a different
way. His monotone voice, hardened expressions, and calculated words made the auditorium feel
very uncomfortable, which was necessary in grabbing everybody’s attention. This tension and
uneasiness also gave King a sense of jurisdiction over the audience he was easy the most powerful
man in the room. He also used a lot of anaphora, in which he repeatedly used “I” phrases like “I
refuse” and “I believe” at the beginning of his thoughts to emphasize his points. Because of these
effects in his speaking, King was able to achieve his goals in captivating the audience and
effectively spreading his message.
There is no doubt that Martin Luther King Jr. is a gifted speaker. Although acceptance
speeches are often just messages of gratitude towards the awarder, he took advantage of his time
on stage to raise awareness for his cause and to inspire others to take action. Although some of his
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words were shocking, he put the audience in awe with his words leaving the room unable to
speak. He wouldn’t have been able to do this without his great rhetorical skills, more specifically
his manipulation of ethos, pathos, and logos. Within those, he used other literary techniques like
personification and anaphora to keep his viewers interested and to make personal connections that
would be memorable for generations to come.
Bibliography
Acceptance Speech
King Jr. , Martin Luther. "Martin Luther King Jr.." . Nobel Media AB, n.d. Web.
<
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/kingacceptance_en.html
>.