Wood also analyzes Obama’s use of references in his election night speech. He discusses how “Behind his speech were the ghosts of Lincoln’s First Inaugural” (610) as well as “the explicit reference to King’s famous phrase about how ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice’” (611). Both discussions of Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. are included to show how Obama believed his election to be a turning point in history as Lincoln and King’s speeches were a turning point in their time period as well. It was imperative for Safire and Wood to discuss the allusions to others’ speeches in both of their analysis as without the references to others’ speeches both Lincoln and Obama’s speeches would not have had the impact and power that they did. Through the course
John F. Kennedy addressed the country as President for the first time on January 20, 1961, keeping the audience thinking about the future of the United States, but the future of other countries as well. In this Inaugural Address, Kennedy uses antithesis to set up a way of thinking that has to be broken down in order to fully understand what the point is, which is bettering our country as well as others. John F. Kennedy appeals the country through antithesis in his Inaugural Address by engaging the U.S. citizens to think about branching out to help other countries as well as improving the United States. Kennedy has many valid points on branching out of the United States to help those in other countries. Although, Kennedy gets his audience, Americans, engaged through antithesis, “Support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Kennedy switched up the words in his speech to get the audience thinking positively about supporting those who want the help of the United States.
Amazingly an author can really engage his/her audience, but that really takes a lot. Thurston Clarke was convincing his audience on how and why Kennedy’s speech succeeded, but at the same time giving the reader a model for a well worded and put together writing. All he provided were quotes from JFK’s Inaugural Address, descriptive background information on the actual speech and also on Kennedy’s life, and lastly by illustrating Kennedy’s presentation as a whole. Never have I been so convinced by an author, but Clarke will defiantly go down as the first
2. Purpose and Research Questions 1.2.1 Purpose of This Research The present thesis aims to reveal the rhetorical characteristics of Obama’s election campaign speeches using the analytical tools of Aristotle’s three appeals. The author intends to provide a practical method for catching the ethos, pathos and logos concealed in American election campaign speeches and at the same time to put forward a proposal of raising English learners’ awareness in public speaking. So there are two purposes for the writing of this thesis. 1) This thesis is to provide a means of seeing through language, to probe into the rhetorical skills used in Obama’s election campaign speeches and to explain how language is used by powerful groups to reinforce persuasion.
A More Perfect Union Critique “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” These are the same words that were presented in the Constitution as well as used in Barack Obama’s speech, “A More Perfect Union” during his presidential primary campaign in 2008. His speech addresses the racism and inequality that still exist in America that is dividing American society instead of uniting it. Obama uses his own experiences to reach out to readers as well as using allusions from history and the patriotic meaning behind the history to incorporate pathos and ethos in his speech. Obama is successful in his writing because he is able to persuade the audience by appealing to their emotions, while using specific details to create more credibility
Big ideas for a better America John F. Kennedy, Jr’s “Big Ideas for a Better America,” was an article that first appeared in the magazine USA Weekend in the mid 1990s. In this piece of writing Kennedy aims to convince his readers that we need to move America forward in a new direction leaving old habits behind and starting new ones. He states that we have to rejuvenate the way we go by voting in our country to get more people interested in voting. Kennedy then ends his introduction with a persuasive like tone keeping us very attentive to his writing. Kennedy, a straightforward kind of guy, starts off his essay by reminding us that young people aren’t interested in politics and care even less about voting.
In this paper, I will be discussing and analysing the different persuasive techniques in the speech by the Old Major at the beginning of Animal Farm. One persuasive technique that the Old Major uses in the speech to familiarise with Karl Marx is the use of a rhetorical question ‘Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours?’ the use of a rhetorical question creates a influential or powerful device in the question, a rhetorical question appears very simple and innocent however it works very persuasively to involve the audience it is being said to along with the readers, the Old Major ensured he uses a rhetorical question at the beginning of the speech so that the audience can enjoy being engaged in a conversation by being asked a question, a rhetorical quesiton also gets the audience thinking in depth about the question therefore the Old Major intentionally used it at the beginning so that the audience are already thinking about the purpose of the speech before he went on in depth about the circumstances the animals are facing, and the aim of the speech. Another persuasive technique used by the Old Major in the speech is when the Old Major uses the technique of ‘opinion as fact’, ‘The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth’ this technique makes the phrase appear very persuasive as the Old Major presents it as a fact, not an opinion therefore making the audience and readers see it as a fact and not a opinion which can be changed, presenting an opinion as a fact helps persuade the audience to a certain mindset and pulls the audience to your view, therefore persuading them to think the same as you and see your opinion as the truth, and not a baseless opinion. The Old Major uses many different persuasive techniques to resemble the characterstic traits of Karl Marx, one persuasive technique that resembles Karl Marx’s ways is
President elects Barack Obama uses a variety of techniques to address and unify his audience. Obamas use of second person, directly making reference of his audience, tonight is your answer...it belongs to you...it cannot happen without you, is cleverly employed to demonstrate the importance of the individual and how his victory and future effort to change America will rely on the efforts of the collective. In the mind of his audience, it is used to make people feel a sense of belonging, having their presence acknowledged. In his speech, Obama makes several intersexual references to inspirational orators of the past. One such example is Martin Luther King, the road ahead will be long...we will get there where Obama creates the sense that it will be a tough, arduous journey ahead of America in undoing the damage done by past leadership.
President Obama started his speech with a catch by naming one of his heroes, the civil rights leader John Lewis. This created a satisfactory level of personalization that was strengthened when he linked the Selma Marches to his “way to the Oval Office.” Since Obama was addressing millions of Americans across the country, he tried to maintain a level of formality as president. He also achieved a good level of simplicity and directness that made his message easier to be understood by ordinary citizens from different backgrounds. In addition, he influenced a wide range of audience by using a narrative approach telling the story of America in general and Selma in particular. The speech’s significance is apparent in the good choice of place (Edmund Pettus Bridge) and time (50th anniversary).
The Breach of Cooperative Principle in the Conversation of Friends and The Big Bang Theory Cooperative Principle was put forward by a famous American language philosopher H. P. Grice, when he gave a lecture at Harvard University in1967. He pointed out that in daily communication, in order to achieve a particular communicative purpose, there is a tacit understanding between the speaker and the listener. In other words, there is a principle that both of them should abide. He called this principle “Cooperative Principle”: “Conversation is interactive, speakers are often eager to participate in the communicative event” (Quaglio, 2009). In order to communicate successfully, each speaker in the conversation should conform to the generally accepted purpose or direction.