A Rhetorical Analysis Of Mark Twain's Speech

Mark Twain told us in his speech on October 17, 1907 "We build a fire in a powder magazine, then double the fire department to put it out. We inflame wild beasts with the smell of blood, and then innocently wonder at the wave of brutal appetite that sweeps the land as a consequence." Twain’s word convey the fact that as society we build an environment that enrages these wild or “insane” people then we call To fix the people that we have made into a certain way……... Twain's quote both ties into gun violence and us as Americans it's our responsibility to look out for one another be each others backbones and hold each other up when times are hard.

These words said by Mark Twain very much connect to the shooting rampage that occurred at the

university of Iowa because i believe what he is trying to say is we create these people who become this way/ we create these circumstances for our self then frantically wonder how we should fix the situation. in all this connects to gun violence also we give these people the tools they need , then backfiring on us with the tools we provided them with aka guns. We wonder why we wake up one day and we see mass shootings or student loses it and kills staff and students it's because we see all the small hints leading up to these horrible moments but instead we choose to ignore them .Then we are in full on panic mode wondering why in the world did this person do what they did. "We inflame wild beasts with the smell of blood" Twain's words explain it very well we in rage people such as the Iowa shooter with the smell of blood aka people who choose not to help . Over all the problem starts at the source and in order to make a change we can't wait until horrific incidents happen we have to start early and not sit back and wonder why after the fact. Twain says "We build a fire in a powder magazine" fire and gunpowder obviously will set each other off , we need to start our foundation off on good notes maybe even changing laws to how much ammunition people are allowed to buy change who , what and why the reasoning to as why people need weapons. it about how we start off if we are willing to change our ways and better ourselves after something horrible has happened or choose to keep building a fire in a powder magazine.

We all can relate to gun violence in some kind of way, we may not have been impacted directly but we all as american people have felt sympathetic for an act specifically caused by gun violence in the United States. Such as Sand Hook elementary school shooting, Vegas shooting, and even a mass shooting in texas in a small town that is even equivalent to that of a spec on an entire map. Not all mass shootings are by people who were diagnosed insane ; for example the shooter from the mass shooting at the University of Iowa was by a young man who was at the top of his class but was overwhelmed with the pressure to be the best to be able to stay in the United States.