Question

In 3–5 sentences, explain how the speaker’s word choice and the relationships among words in the paragraph beginning with “My friends, I must say to you …” and ending with “... cup of coffee at a lunch counter.” produce a specific tone.

(4 points)

Answer 1

The speaker’s address, beginning with the intimate phrase “My friends” and the firm “I must say to you,” establishes a conversational yet insistent tone. Plain, concrete diction—ending with the everyday image of a “cup of coffee at a lunch counter”—grounds large moral claims in familiar, domestic experience, making the injustice feel immediate and absurd. Repetition and parallelism linking ordinary activities denied to Black people build mounting indignation and moral urgency. Together, these choices create an earnest, reproachful tone that both appeals to the audience’s sympathy and presses for action.