Rhetorical Analysis Of A Whisper Of Aids

In her aspiring speech, “A Whisper of AIDS”, AIDS activist Mary Fisher examines her proposal for how awareness is the key. Fisher’s purpose is to convey the idea that AIDS shouldn’t be treated like any normal disease, and to take in account how destructive AIDS can be. She adopts the use of rhetorical appeal, figurative language, and anaphora in order to appeal to her Republican leaders. Mary Fisher speech was a call to seek awareness, to urge the Republicans to no longer hold a stigma on the view of AIDS and to address the problem other than turning a blind eye to it.

The main point of this speech, was Mary Fisher’s demand for an end to the silence and prejudice surrounding HIV/AIDS and to inform about the spread of infection. She begins the speech with strong influential words of willingness to inform her listeners. This bears the message of how important and personal the

topic is for her. Throughout, she states that she herself has AIDS, and examples of the pain and trials she has been through in her personal life. Fisher represents the HIV/AIDS community with pride and indemnity as she calls upon the Republican party to not only see the suffering symptoms of AIDS, but to open up to the infected with a sense of affection and compassion. She concludes with the message of hardship and outlines her message by saying "I ask you to recognize that the AIDS virus is not a political creature” (Fisher). She is just simply asking for recognition of the virus and its affects, not for political gain or a need for compassion.
Mary Fisher, AIDS Activist, spoke at the 1992 Republican National Convention.

Her purpose was to inform the ones whom were prejudice and hold a sense of ignorance about the disease and represent the AIDS community. During this time in 1992, HIV and AIDS were killing people around the world and people with AIDS were being solely rejected by society. This epidemic was spreading fast, and were commonly either the lower class people cause of drugs or the gay/bisexual community. She calls for the Republicans to listen by stating, “It does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican. It does not ask whether you are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old” (Fisher). She shows the desire of presenting her point that AIDS doesn’t care what type of person you are; it can effect anybody. By her choice of words, she sets an alarm of guilt and sets the serious tone that is played throughout the rest of her speech. Some people believe that certain situations cannot happen to them, but just like Mary Fisher and her unlawful husband, proves that you cannot choose your own

battles.
She starts to appeal to her audience with pathos and the heart-bearing story of her personal life and how she contracted the disease from her dishonest husband. Fisher gains sympathy from the audience by apealing to her children; Zachary and Max, which whom does not have AIDS, to not forget their ailing mother and to not suffer and fear the unsafe world. She proclaims the support she has from her dear family to fight and speak out for awareness for her current fight. She also goes into detail when she quotes the words of Pastor Nemoellor, a man who came out of the Nazi death camps to her personal gain to aid her purpose. “They came after the Jews, and I was not a Jew, so, I did not protest. They came after the trade unionists, and I was not a trade unionist, so, I did not protest. Then they came after the Roman Catholics, and I was not a Roman Catholic, so, I did not protest. Then they came after me, and there was no one left to protest” (qtd. In Fisher). She shows the reality through this quote by presenting the fear of AIDs and that any human is at risk for infection.
Mary Fishers logic for this speech was clear to see- without awareness and understanding the illness, American’s cannot move onto fighting the battle against AIDS. She uses logos appeal through the use of statistics on AIDS saying, “Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying; a million more are infected. Worldwide forty million or sixty million or a hundred million infections will be counted in the coming few years” (Fisher). By her stating these random statistics is a use of fallacies. I believe by her using the word “or”, makes her unsure of her numbers and does not back up her evidence of the immense number infected. Her call to action is unclear because throughout her speech, she makes no point of research or ways for prevention. Understanding AIDS/HIV is a serious topic for her, moving forward to help the infected needed to be her call to action instead of informing.
Thru her speech, Fisher brought up the ethics part of her situation. She showed the demand of what is happening in the real world, whether the audience would like to believe it or not. Her approach was heard as she gained support and made people aware of HIV from a real-person point of view. Her main point of ethos was equality. Through speaking of her personal story to the reference of scenario’s stating, “I am one with a black infant struggling with tubes in a Philadelphia hospital. Though I am female and contracted this disease in marriage and enjoy the warm support of my family, I am one with the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind of his family’s rejection” (Fisher.) Here she confronts stereotypes head on that only the homosexual category has or can contract the disease. She displays how she is equal with these normal stereotyped stories and how to relate.
Her other rhetorical appeals were through figurative language. She began the speech with a simple use of a metaphor the “Shroud of Silence” pertaining to the need to concern the American people with the topic of AIDS. Continuing on, she uses repetition of the words “I was not at risk” to gain the idea that stereotyping is incorrect and shows the sense of security people should have. By using anaphora and repeating the same phrase at the beginning of each of her lines caught the audience’s attention because of the repetition that quickly engages hearing and makes points stick. By giving the sense of security emphasizes that everyone is at risk. Fisher catches eyes by giving a new face in representation for the disease.
In summary, Fisher chose her words to encourage listeners to come forth and speak about HIV/AIDS and not feel fear or rejection. Mary Fisher speech was a call to seek awareness and convey the idea that AIDS shouldn’t be treated like any normal disease talked about in a sex education class. The speech was very powerful and touches people in a personal way through an understanding real-life experience.