The origin of my essay is the victory speech of Barack Obama in 2008. The essay is an attempt to illustrate the correlation between discourse and politics in varies of aspects and perspectives. I hope the reader can enhance the skills of persuasive power in discourse. Since in the political views, nothing is coincident. We can use the persuasive power to assure the thing is going to the right track of your plan. I found there are varies persuasive appeals in the victory’s speech. Language is powerful. Besides, politics is based on the influencing power. If the politicians master persuasive strategies well, the audiences may take act and believe the politician’s moral, political and cultural values. Discourse is one of the greatest means that may alter the audience’s thinking and behavior. “Politics is one of the social domains whose practices are virtually exclusively discursive”(Discourse and Politics, 2009). Discourse construction has a vital role in politics. In the Obama’s victory speech of 2008, he used the paragraph structure, lexical and tones with a formal form to eye-catching the listeners. The victory speech is different from our daily dialogue, which has a clear and accurate message of changing the state. To enhance the efficiency of delivering message, he used a tight structure and sophisticated lexical. There are mainly three positions in the politics field. They are the dominant hegemonic positions, the negotiated positions and oppositional positions. Take the Article 23 in Hong Kong as an example. The left wings supported it; therefore, they held the dominant hegemonic positions. The right wings are the oppositional positions. However, there are a few people seem apathetic about it. They are the negotiated... ... middle of paper ... ...n the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.” (Transcript: 'This Is Your Victory,' Says Obama, 2008) “ New deal, new jobs and new sense” were the positive and energetic words, which implied the bright future. The triple was a method to create emphasis. The usage of “New” was echoing the theme of change and bringing the belief of reborn. The orator had a prudent lexical selection to strengthen the ideology. In addition, the alliteration was also a persuasive strategy, which was used to reinforce the ideas and main theme. Its feature was repeating the identical first letter, in this case, they were despair, dust and depression. He could choose “gloomy” or “ lowered” to express, however, he chose “despair”, “dust” and “depression “ to make alliteration.
In the story, What is Rhetoric by William Covino and David Jolliffe, there are a wide variety of topics discussed that are inextricably interwoven with the concept “rhetoric.” Rhetoric, as defined by the authors, is “the study and practice of shaping content.” Consequently, my first thought was: Ok, this is a rather broad and opaque description; my successive thought, however, was one of astonishment, inasmuch as the authors went on to further elucidated this jargon. In doing so, the authors distilled the most crucial elements of what is rhetoric— the prevalence of discourse community, and how appealing language is often a precursor to persuasion.
Wilson, T. W. (n.d.). "This is War" American Rhetoric: The Power of Oratory in the United States. Retrieved April 14, 2011, from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wilsonwarmessage.htm
Have you ever wondered how influential people write great speeches that grab people's attention? They use a literary device called, rhetorical appeals. As supported in Hillary Clinton’s November 03, 2016 speech, uniting the American Public, will lead to an advantageous country. In her speech for the Democratic National Convention it states that, as elected for president, she will get everyone saying “We” instead of “I”. To reach out to the American Citizens and grab their attention, Clinton uses many rhetorical devices as she speaks. Using Logos, Pathos, and Ethos, the people of America jump on board with Clinton's ideas.
Despite these generalizations, of which the President failed to fully support, his speech was quite effective. Most notably, Mr. Obama used anecdotes for various reasons, such as serving as springboards for more relevant issues, as well as to, more importantly, demonstrate pathos and logos. The latter two rhetorical elements were effectively employed by President Obama, helping to spur emotion (pathos) as well as to both support his claims and form logical conclusions (logos). Though, as previously mentioned, Obama occasionally presents assumptions of which he fails to support, Mr. Obama’s mastery of rhetorical strategies dwarfs most of the downsides of his address. All in all, it appears to be quite evident that President Obama presents effective rhetoric within his State of the Union Address.
Because of the controversial issues surrounding President G.W. Bush before and during the time of his reelection, the acceptance speech that he delivered is an important piece of literature to study. This diplomatic speech is a piece of rhetorical contribution because the motives and meanings behind any President’s speech is significant to us as citizens of the United States of America. It further warrants our attention because if the audience is able to comprehend the inner meanings and motives behind a presidential speech, then they will eventually be able to differentiate the actual stances and platforms of future presidential candidates and nominees.
Obama is able to gain his listeners’ ears because of his clear and effective writing. In Obama’s writing various elements of rhetorical framework create a strong and persuasive argument that Obama is able to present in grabbing his audience’s attention and consideration. Seen through his writing, Obama’s use of rhetorical appeals, devices, and context create an in-depth look into the problem of the racial divide which still exist today. In writing an effective argument, Obama employ’s through rhetoric’s personal experience, historical events, religion, and the current state of things, which he asks his audience think more about. By noting that the problems of America as a whole is a problem that every citizen shares and not a problem that exist individually for different races. Obama is able to have his audience focus on the real issues Americans face moving forward. Ultimately, as it is seen prior before the speech was published and given, Obama’s intent on the direction and how his speech would be formed, along with writing techniques that were used to craft the speech, all reveal his personal knowledge of rhetoric’s and ability to write a persuasive argument. Through his speech Obama is easily able to dismisses his critics and do what he intended to do, being that he wants his audience to focus their attention on to the more serious problems that remain unsolved for American
The speech “Address to the Joint Session of the 107th Congress” was delivered the 20th September 2001 in the United States Capitol by the President who was at that time, George W. Bush. In this public statement, the president calls for unity and tranquillity of American people. This paper has as main curiosity that it is an argumentative text full of rhetorical elements. On the one hand, it tries to calm Americans and to soothe the pain of the people affected. On the other hand, it helps to create a feeling of hatred and anger towards Al Qaeda, the terrorist group that carried out the attempt. Based on the document Analysing argumentative Texts and Hugh Rank’s Intensification/ Downplay schema, the rhetorical elements could be more easily scanned. There are intensifier components in this speech such as repetitions, associations and composition and downplay elements which methods used are diversion, omission ad confusion.
Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be under safe hands. The speech is similar from ideas obtained from the founding documents and Martin Luther King’s speech to establish ‘our’ goal to get together and take some action on the problems our country is now facing. As President Barrack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve ethos. He makes sure his audience connects with him directly by making them feel at his level, and him at theirs. This way he connects to the audience, and in exchange, helps his statement of unity. Using various examples of parallelism, anaphora and refrain, Obama brands the theme of equality and togetherness in our country throughout the speech, vital to gain the respect of his audience. Obama recalls the ‘enduring strength of the constitution’ by delving into the past alluding to America’s allegiance to the Declaration of Independence by quoting “we hold these truths… that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. This expression clearly shows more ethos by reminding us that the quote of equality is of great importance today as it was the time it was written.
President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important points and views of his in front of public. Delivering points and views properly and logically got him to be the president in the first place. President Obama used mostly ethos and pathos, yet some logos to deliver his inaugural and the state of union speeches. Being that, he was able to reach the audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differs from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used short sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech’s audience was mostly the congers members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed upon context and using ethos, pathos and logos consecutively.
...ted skein of immigration policy in America by words alone. Despite that after careful analysis we the readers can more fully understand an issue and potentially come to expanded schemas, we are left with the conclusion that social issues are rarely easy to answer. In our history, rhetoric has been transformative. The power of a well-worded speech or essay to suddenly shift the direction of discourse is very real. Though we were not there, we remember Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream”, and John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” because they were coups of emotion, logic, and ethos. But sometimes such moments never come in a debate. Rhetoric is not always revolutionary; it can also be petty, insubstantial, or merely ignored. Although logic demands answers and emotion is sated by tidy conclusions, they are rarely forthcoming.
On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama made arguably his most important speech, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. These conventions are for political parties to announce a winner for nomination. All the way through his piece, Obama focuses on connecting Americans and himself to the audience. In fact, at the time, Barack Obama was a US Senate candidate for the United States president, and in making this speech, was offered a window for raising his popularity. Throughout “The Audacity of Hope” speech, Barack Obama implements three main devices to raise his political popularity: repetition, abstract language, and structure.
Politicians frequently receive negative publicity at the hand of their own use of language. Their uses of words as they relate to persuasion typically fall within one of the three dimensions of language functions, semantic or thematic. Often their persuasive language can be found to closely resemble any of these three categories simultaneously. There are many tools for analyzing persuasive symbols, many of which should be utilized when analyzing great communicators such as President Ronald Reagan. In response to the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion on January 28th, 1986 where seven brave American’s gave their lives. President Ronald Reagan made history with his famous speech, which didn’t only serve to address the great tragedy, but served as a focal point of comfort for the grieving nation. He commemorated the seven heroes who had fallen that morning in route to outer space; he expressed gratitude to NASA for their past developments and encouraged further explorations. Ronald Reagan was a great communicator, a charismatic persuader whose words delivered focus of the message through utilization of persuasive symbols. This paper aims not to be an all-inclusive guide for analyzing persuasive symbols, but will sufficiently guide the reader to be a more perceptive of persuasive language.
When president Barack Obama first walked on the biggest stage in America eight years ago a lot of Americans did not trust his words of wisdom to carry, we the people to a better United States. On January 10, 2017 President Barack Obama walked back on that same big stage now known and loved by so many to give his last and final speech, his Farewell speech. All of the non believers were certainly awoken to the actions that were taken by president Barack Obama to achieve most of what he truly dedicated his life and career to. Obama worked hard to gain the love, respect and dedication by so many loyal americans today. It definitely was not an easy task to achieve, many trials and many errors. In this analysis I will state weather or not Obama’s
Rhetoric, the art of speaking, is vital in everyday life. Whether it is to convince others of one’s worth as Sojourner Truth does in, “Ain’t I a Woman” or to pledge to a larger audience like Martin Luther King Junior in his “I Have a Dream” speech, rhetoric plays a significant role because it is the key that unlocks the door to self-expression. Without it, nobody would be able to convey his/her message or to get any thoughts across. A silent world, lacking communication, would therefore emerge. Trust would not be present as there would not be any words for someone to convince their beloved ones of his/her sincerity. Proper diction and syntax must be employed in order for one to effectively get others to share his/her beliefs, or at least to respect them.
On January 20, 2009, President Obama was officially inaugurated and sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States of America. The tradition of being inaugurated requires the president to give a speech about the goals they want to reach during their presidency. The president must make a speech that appeals to the audience while being professional. Rhetoric is a useful strategy to utilize in speech making. Obama uses rhetoric to achieve presenting his message of creating hope and change together in America while fixing the economic and social challenges and issues left behind from the previous president. Barack Obama uses syntax, the rhetorical triangle, and diction to portray his message.