Question

Read the excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s "The American Dream” speech.

America is essentially a dream, a dream as yet unfulfilled. It is a dream of a land where men of all races, of all nationalities and of all creeds can live together as brothers.

Now read the excerpt from Governor George Wallace's inaugural address.

And so it was meant in our political lives . . . whether Republican, Democrat, Prohibition, or whatever political party . . . each striving from his separate political station . . . respecting the rights of others to be separate and work from within their political framework . . . and each separate political station making its contribution to our lives. . . .

And so it was meant in our racial lives . . . each race, within its own framework has the freedom to teach . . . to instruct . . . to develop . . . to ask for and receive deserved help from others of separate racial stations.

What argumentative technique is used in both excerpts?

the use of repetition
an appeal to logic
an appeal to credibility
the use of imagery

Answer 1

the use of repetition

Both excerpts repeat words and parallel phrases (e.g., "a dream... a dream" and lists like "of all races, of all nationalities..."; "each...," "to teach... to instruct... to develop...") to emphasize their points.