One of the most renowned inspirational speakers in the country, Eric Thomas, is a Hip-Hop preacher that influences young people all over. Formerly a high school dropout student, he obtained his Masters in 2005 and is currently getting his PhD in Education Administration from Michigan State University. Living life as a high school dropout and surviving on the streets, Thomas has taken his past hardships and harnessed them in to make a better life for himself. He now changes thousands of lives with his inspirational words. Thomas has various famous speeches, but the most popular of them all is his “How Bad Do You Want It” speech. The rhetoric techniques he uses in the speech range from anaphora to pathos and covers everything in between. Due …show more content…
He delivers his message to the students he is talking to in a very bold, stern manner so one cannot lose focus for a single second. At no point is he reading from a piece of paper, which allows the audience to engage in a more natural and conversational feel. This keeps the audience interested and attentive because his tone of voice is not boring in any way at all. Right from the get go the audience is hooked because what do teens want the most in life? Money. Thomas opens the speech by saying, “So if you want to make six figures, you can't just be talking’ about you want to be makin’ six figures.” He is passionate the entire time, using his body language to portray the emotions of the speech. Thomas makes the audience want to hear more and more of what he has to say and makes them become on the edge of their chairs to get ready to hear the next string of brilliant words spill from his …show more content…
Towards the beginning of the speech he relates success to wanting to breathe. Asthma attacks make your life stand still and “you weezin’. Huuu. Huuu. The only thing you trying to do is get some air. You don’t care about no basketball game, whose on TV, whose callin’.” If someone listening to this has asthma they would know exactly what Thomas is talking about which makes this such a successful use of a ethos. It is pretty common knowledge that this generation is worried about our cell phones and TV more than we want to be successful and that is exactly his point. Everyone says they want to be successful, “but you don’t want it bad, you kinda want it.” “This is a soft generation. Our people made it, Harriet Tubman not only made it, but she went back and got some more.” The material he ties together is ingenious and makes his message so much more compelling and inspirational because of the way he gets his message across, it makes one want to find that drive within and keep grinding. His ethical appeal is impeccable, making the audience so much more interested in what he has to say. He does this over and over again, using people from the past and present to get his message across. He references an interview to 50 cent, when 50 was asked when he sleeps, “he said, I don’t sleep. I got an opportunity to make a
Cory Booker, senator of the United States, uses personal judgements along with pathos,ethos,logos, and various rhetorical devices to convince the audience that Hillary Clinton and Jim Kaine are the most suitable candidates from the Democratic party for presidency. During the month of July 2016, a speech by Booker was given at the Democratic National Convention in New Jersey. The speech was to inform and connect to the people of America, known as the audience, that the two candidates, Hillary and Tim, are capable in holding the position of presidency and continuing the traditions of the past.
Throughout his speech, Green employs the usage of the effective rhetorical strategy -- asyndeton -- in order to compel his audience to join the fight against slavery. Green utilizes asyndeton to begin his fifth paragraph: “Let us, then, take up the sword, trusting in God, who will defend the right, remembering that these are other days than those of yore; that the world today is on the side of freedom and universal equality; that the war cry of the howling leaders of Secession and treason”(Lines 36-41). When Green preaches to his audience, the constant stoppage of his words, couples with the meaning -- emotional appeal -- behind the words -- that they must fight for something bigger than them; they must fight for freedom and equality -- in order to achieve his desired purpose of persuading his fellow African Americans to join the fight against slavery. But, this alone does not persuade the audience to join the fight against the heinous acts of slavery, Green must unify his audience in order to draw more people to be recruited and fight as one
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” This mantra from Margaret Mead is a somewhat humorous yet slightly satirical spin on how people tend to think of themselves as one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable human specimens. However, one English teacher from Wellesley High School takes this critique one step further with his polemic presentation at the school commencement. David McCullough, a Massachusetts English teacher, gave a seemingly somber sendoff to his graduates in 2012, with a speech that contained some unapologetically harsh sentiments. However, by looking past the outwardly dismal surface of the speech, the students can infer a more optimistic message. By incorporating devices of asyndeton, paradox, antimetabole, and anadiplosis, McCullough conveys to each student that even though none of them is unique, their commonality is not a fault they all have merit and should strive to view the world through a more selfless lens.
As one of the most controversial condoned actions of the time, Thoreau deeply opposed the possession and treatment of slaves. He demonstrated his transgressions with the government’s approval of slavery through the refusal to pay taxes to the state and the church. Thoreau spoke to the people in order to entice them for the banishment of slavery through civil protest in his speech, he wanted to induce urgency within his message to obtain liberties for all and governmental equity. Through the use of rhetorical questions and repetition, both urgency and importance were conveyed in his speech to protest slavery. Thoreau was able to motivate a different, more impactful response from the audience in using rhetorical questions. Likewise, these are used to purposely prompt the audience to think about the point being made rather than elicit an answer. Further provoking the audience’s exploration into the objection to slavery and war, he expedited his own beliefs in the midst of constructing a commonly rejected belief with an urgent antidote for the people. Thoreau asks of the audience why one would allow unjust laws against others to exist: “Unjust laws exist: … transgress them at once? Why is it not more … provide for reform? Why does it not … minority?” It is these questions that support his purpose for change, he provides the audience with questions to elicit a calculated response that correlates with his beliefs. When Thoreau employs rhetorical questions, he applies several one after another. Therefore, it is this structure that sets the stage for his immediate messages to the audience and their need to respond. Also, just as the Mexican-American war was reiterated throughout the speech, slavery is in constant recognition as well. Like how repetition was used for the war, Thoreau presented the audience with a continual exposure to his
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.
Both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X manipulate the audience’s emotions, pathos, throughout the speech. However, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X use pathos in different ways. Martin Luther King Jr. uses pathos to create a patriotic and welcoming feeling throughout the audience. In his opening paragraph, he greets the audience by stating he is “happy” to speak to the audience. Throughout the speech, he includes positive words to reinforce the welcoming feeling such as “hope” (101), “joyous” (101), “magnificence” (101), and “great” (101). In addition, he adds a patriotic feeling in the crowd to show that people of color are not different from white people. He includes an American song, My Country Tis’ of Thee, as well as repeating the word “together” (103) in another paragraph. He uses the last line of My Country Tis’ of Thee, “let freedom ring” (104), towards the end of the speech to emphasize that the people of color are similar to white people. By using the song, he is showing that both African Americans and white people know the song.
In this paper I am going to discuss the rhetorical appeals, as well as the argumentative structure, audience and purpose set forth by George W. Bush in his September 27 speech in Flagstaff, Arizona. More specifically I will refer to the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos, and explain how they are used to gain the support and attention of the audience and further the further the purpose of the speech. As I explain these appeals I will also give an insight into the argumentative structure and why it is apparent in this particular speech.
Through capturing these events and images in the minds of his audience, Obama writes, “Those stories – of survival, and freedom, and hope – became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world” (14). Obama’s references of biblical and historical events which are known today from history as powerful stories of difficulty and perseverance is used to describe the struggles of racial inequality. As racial inequality itself is a huge problem which creates separation between races even till today, Obama’s allusion to these events match well with putting into perspective
The essays of Carr and boyd are all structured fairly similarly. The author explains the problem and then describes the effects the problem results in, also known as the cause and effect organizational strategy (“Introduction to Rhetorical Strategies”). One example of this organizational strategy is in Nicholas Carr’s essay when he discusses the Internet and how it is affecting him personally, he shares, “They [the Internet] supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr 315). Carr makes it clear that the cause of the issue in this quote is the Internet, and the effects that the Internet have on him specifically,
Doing so, he had the citizens of America think of how the government is violating their rights and making them oppose against the government. He created rhetorical devices like: the appeal to logic, appeal to emotion, and juxtaposition. Giving the rhetorical technique to have people believe that the government has been taking away all of their rights has been an effective outcome because it was encouraging citizens to think that they’re better off with a smaller and less powerful government. The speech he constructed in all was an impactful speech to the people of America because the way he handles his words to have America think they’re making the country a better place, but slowly making the government become a capitalist
President Barack Obama has been a well-known political figure for just over 8 years; he has served two terms as the President of the United States. There has been controversy surrounding the first African American president, after his first term Obama failed to prove to America that he would fix all the things he promised to fix upon election. With his second term he has set in place his views and goals for the country. Obama’s views have been trying to benefit the overall population of American, from the poor all the way to the rich with a few subclasses in-between. During the Inauguration of his second term, won against Mitt Romney. His opponent stood for many things that were conflicting to Obamas platform, while Obama stood for rehabilitating the poor after the recession, Romney wanted to focus on tax breaks for the rich. Throughout the speech given by President Barack Obama, he outlines necessary changes in the system to benefit the people and the need for people to come together as one to have an effective country.
The Sate of Address is a yearly address delivered in January by the president of the US to Congress, giving the administration 's view of the state of the nation and plans for legislation. In President Obama’s 2016 Sate of Address, his purpose was to inform Americans about his vision for the remainder of his term. He conveys this message by using a relatable and concerning tone, which allowed his readers to connect to the ideas he had proposed. Also, during his speech, President Obama’s chose topics that spoke to every gender, race, and social class. For example, President Obama said “First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us especially when it comes when it comes to solving urgent
In King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he uses rhetorical strategies to capture his audience and to keep their attention as well. One style that Dr. King used when he delivered his speech was Ethos, which is establishing his own credibility to
As I’m growing older, I am finding myself to be a more healthily skeptical person. For example, at a younger age, I would of probably left the speech; however, as I’m maturing I’ve found myself to leave my mind open to ideas, but at the same time I don’t believe everything I hear, just because it sounds good. This experience allowed me to exercise the idea of going out of my way, in order to learn more about different topics. While admittedly I was in a rush to leave, I heavily considered asking him personally why he didn’t place any blame on African American’s for their own problems (Wise, 2016). For every claim he made, I could have used my own statistics to refute what he was saying. Regardless of my frustration at the speech, it was an extremely healthy experience for the growth of me as a person.
President Obama’s Address to the nation was presented on January 5, 2016. His speech was shown on all of the major network stations. The main goal of his speech was to get the point across to the nation about the increasing problem of gun use. His speech really focused on the issue of gun control and if it would benefit the country. Overall, the biggest idea of his Address was that gun control is a large issue in the United States. The way to prevent deaths caused by firearms can be prevented in other ways than taking peoples guns away. The examples brought up in this Address really stood out to me. The use of personal, national, and global examples really made his speech stronger on the topic of effectiveness.