Rhetorical Devices in Lou Gehrig’s Farewell to Baseball Address
The use of rhetorical devices in Lou Gehrig’s Farewell to Baseball Address helps the author get the appropriate feelings conveyed throughout the speech. During the speech, a common rhetorical device used is a rhetorical question. This device is a question being asked that isn’t meant to have an answer. Lou Gehrig is looking on the positive side by saying, “Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day?” (par. 2). Gehrig is downplaying the whole situation at this moment and is trying to show his gratitude towards everyone who has helped him out during his career. Another rhetorical device he uses in his speech is anaphora.
He is using this device to when he repeats the beginning of the sentence to get the point across strongly. When Lou is appreciating his family, he uses the anaphora, “When you have a…” (par. 7, 8, 9). He uses this statement to show that he has “...a wonderful mother-in-law…”, “...a father and mother who work all their lives [for you]...”, and “...a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed…”. This rhetorical device is used for Gehrig to inform that he is lucky to have a supportive and living family throughout his career and doing what he loves. In conclusion, the use of rhetorical devices in Lou Gehrig’s speech helps the reader understand his feelings more clearly.
In “Jackie’s Debut: A Unique Day,” is written by Mike Royko, and appeared in the Chicago Daily News on Wednesday, October 15, 1972, the day after Jackie passed away. This article is about one of the most famous and cultural African Americans to ever play the game of baseball. In the beginning of the story, there were wise men sitting in the tavern that had something to say about Jackie. They weren’t the kindest words and said that he would ruin the game of baseball. Jackie was going to be at Wrigley Field and the kid had to see him perform. Him and his friend always walked to the baseball games to avoid streetcar fare. On that day, Wrigley Field was packed. He had never seen anything like it, there were about 47,000 people there and at the
On April 18th, 1967, Jackie Robinson, the first African American professional baseball player, wrote a letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson thanking him for his role in the Civil Rights Act. Within the letter, Robinson uses logos and pathos to reassure the president he is doing a great job, and to persuade him not to give up despite the wartime demonstrations.
The speech I chose was Cal Ripken Jr.’s it was given at the Orioles home ball park, Camden Yards at his last home game before retiring. It is a special occasion speech and was given in front of over 48,000 fans. He used a tried and true opening sentence that although a little altered had a very familiar ring. He opened with “As a kid, I had this dream” a very loose but familiar take on MLK’s “I have a dream”. This was a great attention getter and probably had people on their feet immediately. This audience was already motivate to hear his speech so that was not an issue. Most of the fans were there for the purpose of hearing his retirement speech. He did not preview his points in the introduction he addressed those in the body of his speech one at a time. He did not try to establish credibility as he was speaking about himself so who knows more about him than himself.
Alfred M. Green uses persuasive techniques that are based solely on the emotions of the audience. Due to the fact that this was a speech, it is more influential to listeners that he chose using emotions of the audience to persuade the audience instead of using other persuasive techniques. The emotions of the audience is more commonly known as Pathos, within the Ethos, Pathos, Logos persuasive techniques that the greek philosopher and scientist, Aristotle created. Green was presenting an inspirational speech and speeches are different than regular persuasive texts because they have to appeal to their audience more and if they do not, the audience would lose interest and not pay attention to the speech. Green can perfectly craft his words into appealing with the emotions of the
Introduction Baseball Saved Us was written by Ken Mochizuki, a novelist, journalist and an actor. He is a native of Seattle, Washington located in the United States. After the war between the United States and Japan during World War II, is parents were forced to move to a Minidoka internment camp located in Idaho. He got his inspiration to write Baseball Saved Us when he read a magazine article about an Issei (a first generation Japanese American) man who established a baseball diamond and formed a league within the camps. Dom Lee, the Illustrator of the book, is a native of Seoul, South Korea.
On February 19, 2010, Tiger Woods spoke to his fans, supporters, and non-supporters in search of forgiveness. In the speech, he apologizes for his acts of cheating on his wife, Elin. He hopes to change and gain support from his audience in doing so. Woods issues a strong apology by showing his respectable character, establishing culpability in the audience, and utilizing first-person point of view.
Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder. Lou Gehrig, an exceptional baseball player for the New York Yankees from 1923-1939, conveys his positivity and accepting the manner in his farewell speech given at the Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939, announcing his retirement. Two weeks prior his farewell speech, Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS disease that eventually destroyed and demolished his muscular structure and his career. Lou Gehrig stood in the field as friends, family, fans and colleagues listened intently to the compelling farewell speech. To further conclude, Lou Gehrig’s farewell speech, “The Luckiest Man,” revealed not only Lou Gehrig’s accepting and positive manner but also his exceptional use of rhetorical devices.
Ronald Reagan was one of the most liked Presidents. When being elected for his second term, he won by a landslide—winning all the states minus Minnesota and Washington D.C. Reagan addresses the people of the United States of America. He wants the American people to reflect on his presidency, and as all presidents do in their farewell addresses, he wants to say goodbye to the nation that he's led for the past eight years. Ronald Reagan uses repetition, parallel structure, and allusion to reflect on his presidency and to say farewell to the American people.
For this rhetorical analysis paper I chose one of my favorite, and most famous, sports speeches of all time, Lou Gehrig’s farewell to baseball address. Lou Gehrig was a famous baseball player in the 1920’s and 30’s. Lou didn’t really need to use a attention getting introduction, he was well known and loved by so many that people piled into Yankee Stadium to watch and listen to him give this speech. Although he didn’t need an attention getter, he began his speech with one of the greatest baseball quotes of all time, “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” (Gehrig, 1939) Every single time I hear or read that opening line it sends chills down my spine and stops me for a moment to reflect on everything that is going on in my own life.
Remarks by President Obama at the eulogy for the honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney; A man who was killed when an another man rushed into a church in South Carolina and killed 9 people while they were immersed in an afternoon mass. President Obama created different appeals and feelings through the use of different Rhetorical Devices such as Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. The use of logos ethos and pathos help the president convey his central idea which is to ensure the people of South Carolina and the people of the United States that not only are they safe, but they will unite to take this opportunity to create a more united U.S. This will happen through the establishment of new gun reforms.
In today’s society, one of the most natural human traits is selfishness. David Foster Wallace incorporated this idea in his commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. Wallace aims to persuade his audience that, “the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” Although the intended audience of his speech is the graduates and staff, along with their friends and family, the piece has become quite popular since its delivery. Wallace offers, “nothing less than the truth” and captivates the listeners with his complete honestly. His personal tone lets the audience feel like they are a part of the conversation, rather than just receiving it. Wallace successfully conveys his message that society is blind to the world around them through the use of logic, humility and emotional appeals.
Lou Gehrig was known as a modest man and a “tireless worker,” with remarkable work habits. Gehrig was the first athlete in history to have his jersey retired. Famous number 4 was retired in 1939. Gehrig also holds the record for most grand slams in a career with 23. Gehrig was the first player in history to drive in 500 runs in three consecutive seasons. Gehrig’s farewell speech was definitely directed towards baseball fans; more specifical...
King utilizes the rhetorical strategy of ethos to justify his presence in Birmingham to the white clergymen. He was in Birmingham to help the civil rights movement, using peaceful protests. While he resided in jail for parading without a permit he received a letter from a group of clergymen. These clergymen told King that he should not be using such drastic means to achieve his goal of equality. King peacefully replies with his Letter From Birmingham Jail proving to these men that he had every right to be in their city.
Babe Ruth is still a very well-known person in history today, even almost one-hundred years later. He did not only change the way people viewed negro baseball leagues, but he also gained a large reputation for his ability to play baseball, obviously due to his amazing abilities. Ruth’s ability to play was almost impossibly good, in fact, he was even titled “athlete of the century” for his ability. With that ability and power that he had once he won, he would become a
Success. Seven letters, two syllables, and essentially, the goal of almost every person to walk the planet. The interesting thing about success is that it isn’t a set in stone goal, but an ideology. With each person, success is redefined, argued, and tried. Success comes in different forms and levels, but at the end of the day every person who has been deemed successful mentions one word: failure. Yet, it isn’t failure in of itself that produces success, but the determination and desire to work through it. Failure can only indoctrinate when an individual decides to work past it and improve from it. Often, however, the strenuous process of failure and grit is glamorized, and the true factors that play into success are forgotten. For example,