Rhetorical Analysis Of Coretta Scott King's Speech

“Death is the only pure, beautiful conclusion of a great passion” (David Herbert Lawrence). Coretta Scott King was an inspiring person to women of all ages and races. However her death had an impact on everyone, she was seen as an idol, more importantly as a leader. Malcom X’s daughter Attallah Shabazz who is also Mrs. King’s most pride supporter addresses her remarks in her eulogy and engages the people at the funeral service for Mrs. King on the sorrowful day of February 7th, 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. With hundreds of people, (mainly women) watching on TV or listening in the stands during this depressing time reflect and honor on the achievements and positive attitude she had on the community for others. Attallah Shabazz hoped that this event

and her speech will inspire and motivate people to be a leader and strive to make the community a more diverse and better place to call home just like Coretta Scott King. Attallah Shabazz cleverly integrates pathos, anecdotes and parallelism to achieve her purpose in her speech. Although this speech is still recent, the impact of Coretta Scott King’s death still affects and motivates people to this day.
Attallah Shabazz integrates pathos into her eulogy to inspire and motivate the people to be a leader and to make the community better. By adding in pathos into her eulogy she gives them an intense feeling. That intense feeling inspires and motivates them to do better and to help make things better. As well as since many of the viewers are women and they get even more emotional and so it creates a stronger impulse and inclination. In her speech she says “we have been bestowed with such a woman as Coretta Scott King… the memory brings on a chuckle and a smile and a caress of warmth because of the role she played in our individual lives…” This proves how Attallah Shabazz is using pathos. By using words that are emotional such as bestowed and phrases like caress of warmth she is appealing to the audience emotionally. However the reason why she uses pathos is because by appealing to the readers emotions she gets to you and she leaves a positive impact. An impact that gives an idea that the people should be thankful and blessed to have people like her, people that fight for the better of the community. As well as it inspires them to do better and help end inequality. Another example in her speech is “Yet, no doubt one of the most beautiful things… when you witness love and being loved the way we have by each our respectable mothers, you almost feel like you don't have the right to ask them to stay a day longer…” This expounds on how Attallah Shabazz used pathos in her eulogy. She uses the words like beautiful and the concept of love because those are emotional words, it can leave an impact on the people. What she means is that Mrs. King loved everyone because she cared for them, she cared too much for everyone, and that’s a beautiful quality to have. The reason why Ms. Shabazz does it is because she is trying to emphasize emotionally that Mrs. King did everything she did because she loved everyone and wanted people to have a better life with no struggles. It’s because of this idea that it impacts the people giving them motivation to do good deeds like Mrs. King, and to make the community a better place, it motivates them. In all pathos is a method that Attallah Shabazz integrates into her speech to motivate the people and be thankful for Mrs. King.
Attallah Shabazz adds in anecdotes in her remarks of Coretta Scott King to encourage the viewers. By adding in anecdotes she adds in additional information that appeals to her and to the audience. By having more information, the audience gets to know her better and they get a stronger feeling to make change and thank her for what she has done. It makes the eulogy stronger and it encourages the people even more. In Ms. Shabazz’s speech she retells of the time when she was younger and her mother and she got together with the eldest daughter in the King family and Mrs. King. As well as how they were together since they were very similar almost like sisters and everything. However when Ms. Shabazz’s mother had passed away, Mrs. King was there for Attallah, Mrs. King would check up on her every now and then and include her in birthday celebrations and everything. By Attallah Shabazz retelling this story she gives a little more background about her. As well as the anecdote that she includes explains for why she was such a special and driven person for Ms. Shabazz. Anecdotes are from personal experience and when retelling it is hard when it hits to you. The reason why she tells is because she wants to explain how and she is special, to emphasize how thankful they all should be, given that they lived the same time as her, how she is unique and that feeling gives people motivation and inspiration to be a special and important person just like her too. Another anecdote Attallah Shabazz retells is in the past November, for her birthday she got a package in the mail and it was from Mrs. King. Mrs. King still sent it to her given that she was in fragile condition having to be in a wheelchair and she couldn’t speak a lot as well. Mrs. King still remembered and still loves her, sees Ms. Shabazz as her own daughter. Ms. Shabazz talked to Mrs. King on the phone with her heart pounding because she was nervous. But, Attallah Shabazz knew in that moment that knowing that you’re loved is the best thing especially if it’s from a person that is special to your life. By telling of another time in her life with Mrs. King she gives additional information about her. It’s basically giving the audience a better idea of the type of person she was. Her personal story is credible due to her being the daughter of Malcom X, and Malcom X and the King family worked together many times during the civil rights movement so it actually happened. The reason why Attallah Shabazz tells another anecdote is because Mrs. King had a major impact on her life and so she wants to express and emphasize to the people that she was such an exceptional person with a pure heart and so how hard it is to see her go. She wants her audience to feel the same way, by this intense emotion of sorrow, she wants to motivate the audience to be the same like Mrs. King, courageous, kind, and determined, and so everyone should be thankful for her. Anecdotes is the rhetorical device Attallah Shabazz integrates into her speech to motivate the people and be thankful for Mrs. King.
Attallah Shabazz combines in parallelism as well into her eulogy to excite and drive the viewers watching this memorial for Coretta Scott King.

By adding in some examples of parallelism, it enhances the ideas that she wants to express. By enhancing those ideas, the people get affected in an emotional manner. Getting emotional by her ideas, they get motivated and they thank her for what she has done and they’ll want to make an impact the same way Mrs. King has impacted them. An example in her speech is “You knew what grace looked like. You knew what poise looked like.” What Ms. Shabazz means is that Coretta Scott King was a prominent figure, she was an example for others. She was special that if people needed a role model to look up to, she was the one. This is parallelism because it’s the same structure for both sentences, the words you knew followed by a positive adjective. The reason why Ms. Shabazz did this is because she was enhancing the idea that Mrs. King was a prominent person and because of this people should be thankful for her and follow in her footsteps. Being the type of person she was led to the accomplishments she achieved. Another phrase in her eulogy is “We have lost many on that walk, on that journey, who stood steadfast -- steadfast, giving and doing, serving and being, sharing and extending… We have come over to-day!" "We have achieved today…” This explains how because of Mrs. King’s devotion and personality the African-American community has achieved so much. It’s because of this that there is more equality and more opportunities than in the 1960s. As well as how this quote explains that due to the sacrifices many people made for this idea brought on by Mr. and Mrs. King that there is a better future. The reason why Attallah Shabazz brings this up is because she wants to highlight that Mrs. King did all this for the people she loved. It’s because of this that Ms. Shabazz wants the audience to realize and be thankful for what she’s done and be

a better person and help the community. There is still change to be done and Attallah Shabazz wants everyone to acknowledge it. Parallelism is the rhetorical device Attallah Shabazz integrates into her speech to motivate the people and be thankful for Mrs. King.
Attallah Shabazz manages to include pathos, anecdotes and parallelism to achieve her purpose in her speech. Although this speech is still recent, the impact of Coretta Scott King’s death still affects and motivates people to this day. Her use of pathos, anecdotes and parallelism is a way for her to achieve her purpose to inspire and motivate people to be a leader and strive to make the community. Her speech is very well written and moving, it reaches out to all people, because many have suffered a loss from someone who has impacted them in a way that inspires them to do better for them. So this eulogy is a way for Ms. Shabazz to both express her inner emotions about it but also to makes other motivated and fired up to help others so that they don’t have to struggle like they did that day.