Rhetorical Analysis Introduction Words have power. However, for them to have the desired impact on the audience, some styles have to be incorporated in articulating them out. Orators of the time are best known for their ability to touch people through words. One such person is President Obama. He has a way of making people remember what he has said. This is because; he has styles that he uses in his speech which capture the interest and emotions of the listener. Oppositely, a speaker may want to bring out a certain point, but the choice of technique may impede the passage of such a point to the audience. Basing on this, it is vital for speakers not just to come with word they think are appropriate but also make a choice of the techniques that will influences the delivery of the desired message. Information regarding the styles and techniques utilized by the speaker cannot be gathered unless thee speech is critically analyzed. Accordingly, one of the speeches by President Obama is going to be analyzed. SOAPS The State of the Union 2014 speech by President Obama is going to be analyzed. The president gave out this speech on 28th January 2014 in Washington D.C. the speech was delivered before a joint session of the congress. Thesis Statement Pathos, logos and ethos are techniques incorporated in speeches to ensure that the audience is reached to. However, the employment if any of these techniques has to be thoroughly thought about so as to positively implicate on the delivery of the intended information. Speakers drive their desired point home through capturing the emotions of the audience. Some relate to varied scenarios that might be of interests to the audience. Moreover, some of the speakers use approved facts. By studying the ... ... middle of paper ... ... real life stories like the one for Misty DeMars and Andra Rush Company. This is to show how people are industrious in the American society so that the leaders do not let them down. Conclusion A speech utilizes information that may be interesting to the audience or that which is known. This is to make sure that information relayed creates the desired impact. The president has used factual information, examples, emotions and a persuading tone to urge the leaders to work together with him so as to ensure the welfare of the people. He has been able to explain the efforts of the people and where the leaders might be failing to influence positively on the people. Accordingly, he has explained to the people the methods which can be effective in ensuring that they remain committed to the people they serve. In addition, he had explained his personal commitment to the same.
Heinrichs had previously worked as a journalist before becoming a full time writer and advocate for rhetoric. He utilizes illustrative examples to convey rhetorical concepts. Furthermore, chapter four reveals the most valuable logos and pathos tactic. Lastly, this book’s use should be continued in this course.
The purpose of an “inaugural address” is to inform the people of his or her intentions as a leader. Two of the most prominent inaugural addresses throughout history are Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s and Barack Obama’s. Franklin Roosevelt’s inaugural address stands the test of time because it gave the American people hope that they may overcome the terrible Great Depression. Similarly, Barack Obama’s address is well known because it inspired millions that we will be lifted out of economic crisis, but it was also remembered as the first inaugural address from an African American president. The inauguration speeches of Franklin Roosevelt and Barack Obama use the rhetorical devices parallelism, allusions, and emotive language to convey their messages
The structure of a speech is how it is organized. In President Barack Obama’s address to the nation, the structure of his speech is organized into three parts: a sincere opening, the main point, and then a sincere closing. In the opening of his speech, President Obama offers condolences and is sincere to the situation at hand. As he progresses in his speech, he reaches his main point of the need for a more restricted gun control policy. In the body of his speech, he loses some sincerity and focuses on the present situation and how to resolve the issue. Then, he closes his speech the way he began it, by being sincere and reaching out to the ones who were suffering. This particular way of organizing his speech was effective in supporting his argument. By opening his speech in a sincere way, he caught the attention of anyone listening because of his kind words. After he had their attention, he addressed the need to come together as a nation and end the awful violence. Then he ended by offering comfort to families. This specific structure buries the more controversial topic of gun control which causes people to feel more sympathetic making them more willing to listen to his message even if they support the right to bear
Moving into the speech, pathos,ethos, and logos were mentioned multiple times. Pathos appeal to the emotions which help the reader connect to the speaker. For instance, the use of “Us” and “America will rise” various times allows the audience to connect more to the subject. Also, Booker mentions the statement “Love knows that every American has worth and value” which conveys that the audience is important and that the people of America are in this together. Ethos are appeals to credibility or
In order to grasp the rhetorical situation, one must first understand the correlation between the purpose of the State of the Union Address and the response to the address. Before discussing the response in detail, one needs to know why the State of the Union Address is given. According to the website, This Nation, the intent of the State of the Union Address shall convey a message of what America is striving to become in the form of speech to the citizens. The website defines the State of the Union Address by stating, “ shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the
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.
Effectively communicating an idea or opinion requires several language techniques. In his study of rhetoric, Aristotle found that persuasion was established through three fundamental tools. One is logos, which is used to support an argument through hard data and statistics. Another is ethos, which is the credibility of an author or speaker that allows an audience to conclude from background information and language selection a sense of knowledge and expertise of the person presenting the argument. The impact of pathos, however, is the most effective tool in persuasion due to the link between emotions and decisions. Although each of these tools can be effective individually, a combination of rhetorical devices when used appropriately has the ability to sway an audience toward the writer’s point of view.
Rhetorical analysis assignment: President’s Address to the Nation. Since the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration has been calling on all citizens and all nations to support his Middle East policy. Nonetheless, the U.S. has been involved in the Middle East struggle for more than half of the century, wars were waged and citizens were killed.
Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle links three elements of arguing together: the speaker, the story, and the audience. The relationship between the elements determines the speaker’s argument and whether it will be successful in oratory or literature. Ethos, Logos and Pathos are each different aspects of the argument that must be balanced in order to succeed in persuading or convincing an audience. Ethos, or character, relates to the speaker’s credibility that the audience appeals to: it is useful when persuading a group of people to trust what you are saying or doing. Logos, or logic, is a way of convincing and appealing by reason, truth, and facts. Pathos relates to the audience’s emotions and their response to what the speaker is saying.
“A More Perfect Union” was delivered by Barack Obama on March 18, 2008. At the time her gave the speech he was senator and running in the president election. Obama responded to his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, and also discussed the issue with race in America. This problem is important to us as a whole, because we went through plenty of racism in the past. He wants the prevent those incidents from according again. He did an excellent job using rhetoric tools to support his beliefs, which led to a successful election.
President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Rhetorical Analysis. Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be in safe hands. The speech is similar to 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 Barack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve his ethos.
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.
In January of 2010, President Obama presented the annual State of the Union address. In the address, Obama speaks about many things he has accomplished in the past year and hopes to accomplish in the coming year. The first thing he wants to accomplish is health care reform. The next issue he needs to address is the budget. Then, Obama speaks about some bills and policies that he wants to put into place.
Ethos is the ethical appeal or the appeal to the credibility and authority of a speaker. Ethos assists in conveying the message through tone and style in addition to being in possession of the relevant knowledge in the field that you want to bestow a speech. Pathos is the emotional appeal or the appeal to the audience’s heart and emotions. Personal connections, stories, testimonies and experiences aid the speaker to bond emotional to the audience. Logos is the rational appeal or the appeal to the audience’s logical reasoning ability. The speaker can include facts or statistics. Furthermore, by asking himself or herself the following questions a speaker can be able to weigh how his or her speech appeals logically; does the speech make sense?
I have also learned about different types of audiences and speeches including persuasive, informative, entertaining and delivering special occasion speeches. It came to my attention that whenever I was making these presentations or speeches, I needed to do so with confidence, consistence and practice before the actual presentation and completely eliminate the element of panic. It was also clear that capturing the attention of the audience and engaging them in the whole process, it was necessary to have a very strong introduction and also try and use visuals to deliver the message. It was therefore vital to respect each person’s diversity and cultural values (Lucas, 2011).