Read the body paragraph from Paola’s rhetorical analysis essay of Martin Luther King Jr.’s "I Have a Dream” speech. By comparing the Constitution to an uncashed check, King successfully communicates his point that the US has not fulfilled its promises to citizens of color. "In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. . . . It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.” In using the analogy of a bad check, King provides a familiar framework that his listeners understand. This framework illustrates the US government’s failure to fulfill its promises to all of its people. King uses the image of a check to show that freedom and civil rights are tangible, concrete things that each American is due.