First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Rhetorical Analysis

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“The secret to being a bore is to tell everything,” as honored French writer Voltaire claims. In this regard, Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, the First Lady of the U.S. in 1964, during the first anniversary luncheon of the Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial, scatters a multitude of rhetorical devices throughout her tribute speech to honor the former First Lady Elenor Roosevelt. As seen through skillfully placed anaphora, rhetorical questions, and short/choppy syntax, Johnson is able to effectively achieve her purpose of paying tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt. Johnson’s frequent use of anaphora emphasizes Roosevelt’s achievements and even raises the spotlight on Roosevelt herself. This anaphora– a word or words repeated at the beginning of successive sentences– not only places emphasis on Roosevelt’s persistence but also doubles as a list of praises toward Roosevelt’s character. For instance, Johnson mentions Roosevelt’s persistence of …show more content…

Throughout Johnson’s speech, she scatters rhetorical questions to not only directly ask her audience, but to involve them in her speech, similar to a call-to-action. Rhetorical questions– a question that is not supposed to be answered and used for emphasis– throughout the speech constantly remind her audience that they aren’t just an audience, but also a part of her speech. Johnson, although not directly addressing the audience, would ask “where else do you start, but with one person?” or “are we ready to fight similar battles against new foes on our own day?” These questions would reveal to the audience that they can also be a part of the helping cause, not just Roosevelt. Although Johnson isn’t necessarily praising Roosevelt through the use of rhetorical questions, Johnson is able to effectively involve her audience and remind them that they can be just like Roosevelt: a strong and independent

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