Davis Williams

Mr. Padgett
English 101
9/8/15
The World House
Analogy is one of the great tools an author has at his disposal. Analogies, metaphors, and
similes can be used to put difficult and hard to understand concepts in a different perspective.
The clarification and explanation that these writing methods can provide allows the message the
writer is trying to convey reach a broader spectrum of people, and give them a strong visual
image to help understand the writing, speech, or story. A study on analogy conducted by the
Impact Marketing Company stated that, Analogies help us understand new concepts by pulling
context from our past experiences and knowledge. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s use of analogy
in The World House does just this, giving it an element of simplicity that was not all too
present in his other speeches. The idea presented about a World House was a concept that
could easily be understood, which was necessary for Dr. King, due to fact that most of his
listening audience would not have much formal education due to the segregation laws at the
time. This analogy of the World House as well many other made throughout the speech give it
the depth that it needs to reach a large audience.
The same thoughts usually run through everyones minds when they sit down to read any
speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That it is going to be all about how men and women, no
matter what color, need to set aside their differences and live together as equals. This is a
powerful message that was necessary at that time in history, but Dr. King had to differentiate his
speeches from each other without losing that strong message. In The World House he does just

that. He begins his speech by referencing a novelist who had the idea to write a story about a
group of people from very different backgrounds who are forced to share a house together. Dr.
King then asks his group to imagine the same concept, but instead with the idea that every person
alive must learn to live in the same house, the Earth. It doesnt matter that all people are different
races, have different religious beliefs, have different ideas, inspirations, and aspirations. They
must learn to live together, as a family, since it is impossible to live apart.
This analogy doesnt just talk about the race problem in the United States, it puts the
necessity of coexisting between races on a global scale. Dr. King does not want the listeners to
his speech to just think about the colored struggle in the United States, but to realize they are part
of something greater than just their country. In order to obtain true peace, outright global
equality must be achieved. From the original analogy of World House Dr. King goes on to
make more comparisons. He says that, like a fever, the determination for social change and an
end to exploitation is growing within the people. They are awake and move toward their goal like
a tidal wave. You can hear them rumbling in the streetsin houses Each of these
comparisons continues to give the reader or listener a strong visual image that can really hit
home. That the idea of taking a stand and trying to make a difference is slowly beginning the
come into the mind of the oppressed, whether they took inspiration from the United States or the
though crept into their mind on their own.
Dr. King moves on from the issue of civil rights race to speak on the world wide poverty
that has stricken the globe. He uses a comparison that poverty, Like a monstrous octopus, it
stretches its prehensile tentacles into lands and villages all over world. This analogy gives
poverty an entity and a bit of a story. That poverty is something that can come in almost and not
damage a community right away, but slowly drain it until it is bent to its knees. Which is true for

the most part The statistics that King follows this statement with continue to vilify this octopus.
This analogy makes it simple enough for an average person to grasp the concept of how poverty
is affecting the world, while it abstains from detracting from the impact of Dr. Kings message.
In terms of the recovery process from poverty, Dr. King states that, Every nation is a vast
treasure of ideas and labor to which both the living and the dead of all nations have contributed.
Its a simple analogy, but contributes to the idea of using analogies to simplify and give the
listeners and readers a concrete image of what these nations are capable of doing to fight the war
against poverty.
In conclusion, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s use of comparison in The World House
gives the speech an element of simplicity, without taking away from the message that he is trying
to convey to his audience. The analogies and comparisons Dr. King makes gives the listener or
reader, regardless of level of education, the opportunity to call on past experiences and
knowledge to form a visual image that can be quite impactful depending on the imagination of
the person. The analogy of the World House along with the others made throughout the speech
give it an element of depth that it needs to reach a large audience.

Works Cited