(A) He compares segregation to manacles, discrimination to chains, and poverty to a lonely island in the middle of an ocean of prosperity
(B) He compares injustice and oppression to heat, and freedom and justice to an oasis
(C) He compares segregation to a desolate valley, racial justice to a sunlit path, racial injustice to quicksand, and brotherhood to a solid rock.
(D) ** He compares African-Americans to slaves, and all other races to slave owners
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -Dr. King also uses the reference of light and shadows as a metaphor of the differences in civil rights justice. He stated, ‘’Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Concept note-2: -He kicks off the speech with a metaphor, describing the Emancipation Proclamation as a “light of hope to millions of Negro slaves” (2.2). He continues in the same sentence by describing slavery as “[searing] in the flames of withering injustice” (2.2). The end of slavery was a “joyous daybreak” (2.2).
Concept note-3: -King’s purpose in using the extended metaphor about the check: To demonstrate that promises were made and not kept, to illustrate that freedom and opportunity should be limitless, and that there is no reason why a country like the U.S. should be “out of” either one.
Concept note-4: -When he constructed the text of his “I Have a Dream” speech, he used the metaphor of a bad check to demonstrate the economic injustice that so many faced. He took a complex problem and translated it into practical pocketbook terminology: “We’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.