A Comparison of MLKs and Atticuss Speeches

Projeet Mukherjee
Atticus Finch and Martin Luther King Jr. are both outstanding and
revolutionizing individuals who moved millions of people with their speeches.
Martin Luther King Jr. described the evils of segregation in front of a crowd of
millions, and Atticus in a crucial and heated court case, told us that just
because the accused is black, does not mean he is guilty. Both speeches were
brilliant and both deserve to be recognized in their own way, but one speech
has to be better than the other. I believe that Atticus Finchs speech was
more powerful and moving than the speech of Martin Luther King Jr.
The speeches of these two inspiring gentleman have lots of similarities,
yet many differences as well. Both men use the same logic; they both quote
famous Americans from the past. Martin Luther king Jr. talks in the beginning
of his speech about Abraham Lincoln, and Atticus talks about Thomas
Jefferson. They both use things that famous Americans said before them to
justify their causes. However, I feel that both men used different emotions. I
think that Atticus, in his speech is more direct. He has some power in his
voice, but he never fully lets it out, he is calm for most of the speech. By
contrast, Martin Luther King Jr. starts out in a normal pitched voice, but as the
speech goes on he develops more power and in the end he just goes all out,
he makes himself heard and his voice helps the people know that they can
cause equality between blacks and whites.
Another similarity between the two speeches is that both men, even
though they were from the south, did not use southern language. What I
mean is, they both used sophisticated language and did not use slang. I think

this added to their speeches and caused them to be more powerful. One
major difference to their speeches is the audience. Martin Luther King Jr.
spoke to a huge audience, but all of them were already on his side. They all
already agreed that blacks and whites should be equal. However, Atticus
spoke to a court audience full of racist white people, who before even hearing
the evidence wanted Tom to be guilty. This is why I think Atticuss speech was
better. He managed to get a courtroom full of racist whites to actually think
about whether Tom was guilty or not, without looking at skin color. Although
Tom lost, Atticus still made the jury take a long time, which means Atticus
convinced and moved many of the jury members.
Both Atticus and Martin Luther King Jr. were trying to make the same
point in their speeches. As Atticus said in his speech, This case is as simple
as black and White. Both men were trying to get rid of all the prejudice that
belonged in those who thought that all black people steal, or all black people
are dishonest. They both thought that all people should be equal. In Martin
Luther King Jr.s speech he says that 100 years after Abraham Lincoln signed
the Emancipation Proclamation, that Negroes still were not free. Even though
their speeches had their differences both men wanted a simple goal, equality.
Atticus and Martin Luther Kings speeches were both inspiring and
moved millions of people. Both men mention historically significant
Americans like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson; they both however
differ in emotion as I feel Martin Luther King Jr. shows more emotion in his
speech. Both speakers use similar language. Their language is very
sophisticated and consists of no slang. However, their audiences differed
massively. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to a gigantic group of blacks and

whites, but they were all already on his side and they all wanted the same
cause Martin Luther King Jr. wanted. Atticuss audience however was full of
racist whites who Atticus did a fantastic job of convincing and he was
agonizingly close to getting them to believe that Tom Robinson was innocent.
Although both men were different, and their speeches were different, they
both wanted the same goal. A world where blacks and whites could get along.
A world without racism or prejudice. All they wanted was equality.