Once while you run by speeches that are very powerful and motivational in this instance, Michelle Obama’s commencement speech at Bowie State University in 2013. It can be inferred that Obama really cares about pushing and helping the next generation to preserve, by pursuing a higher level of education. Not only in her speech does she exude this excess of exuberance for higher knowledge, but it is also seen throughout her valiant efforts throughout one of her programs “Reach Higher Initiative”, which helps revitalize or push young adults and adolescent to continue their education after high school. By starting this program, helps Obama because it shows that she is trying to place kids and put them in the spots of the graduates, which shows the graduate that she is very proponent of higher education. Throughout Obama’s speech she pushes education by using a plethora of rhetorical devices as well. Obama’s speech was powerful due to her being so relatable in a since to the audience by the use of colloquialism, on the other hand the credibility she was …show more content…
able to established up front, shows her strong usage of ethos; also, the usage of pathos, repetition and logos help made her speech strong its entirety, even though her diction in a part of her speech made her argument feel kind of vague and misleading By using very complex words, you risk of your audience, not understanding your intentions and concept.
At the beginning of Obama’s speech, she was able to gain the immediate respect of the audience by optimizing the rhetorical device known as colloquialism. Obama opens up her speech, repeating the phrase “Oh my goodness”, not only does it express the enthusiasm it also relates to the everyday language of the college audience she is talking to. However, according to they say I say Obama states “Oh, My goodness”(pg. 285), which allows the audience to see that, she does not take herself too serious, even though she could of opened her speech with a much more complex opener. This strategy helped make Obama speech successful, by relating common phrases to a powerful message. By making the audience feel comfortable, Obama was able to dive into the next part her speech, which touches and help further establish her
credibility. Since Obama was able to state the background of the school, goes to show that she did her research before she gave the speech, which shows how much preparation she spent coming up with this speech. To solidify the hard work the students put in over the four years, Obama starts to talk about the foundation of the school and how it came about. Obama stated or according to “they say, I say”, she said “As you all know, this school first opened its doors in January of 1865… new generation of African American teacher"(288), this effects the audience because able to embed the since of hard work and determination, by stating how the school came to be. Going from nothing and evolving into something spectacular is what this university was founded on and by Obama incorporating that into her speech touched on the due diligence of the graduates over the years and to reinforce that point, she plays on the emotion of the audience next. Every race of people has been through a struggle or is still is going through a struggle, whether it be, finical hardships, social hardships or racially injustice and Obama touches on this to appeal to the emotional nature of the crowd . In particular the African American culture has been through so many racial unjust situations such as slavery. Generations ago, blacks were not allowed to receive an education and if you were caught being taught or seeming like as if you knew something knowledgeable, then you would face consequences. Being that Bowie State is a historically black university, Obama harped and pressed on the issue of slavery, so that the audience could receive and get in tuned with this feeling of accomplishment and perseverance. According “they say I say” Obama states “Now, just think about this for a moment: For generations, in many parts of this country… slaves caught reading or writing could be beaten to within an inch of their lives” (pg. 288), the colon within this very powerful, because it makes the audience ponder into their feelings and it allows them to wonder what is Obama going to talk about next. Although the colon serves a purpose, the words should not be ignored, because Obama words able to provoke a since of fulfillment, by upholding what could not be attained by their ancestors. Responsibilities and obligations are important to society, because it leaves us, feeling as though we need to go back and help the society in which we grew up in or any society in particular and Obama makes that’s prevalent in her speech by using repetition. Obama reminds us our obligations/responsibilities and according to “they say I say”, she stated “And that’s what I want to talk about with you today. I want to talk about the obligations that come with a Bowie State education” (288). The repetition of the say “I want to talk about”, lets the audience know that the message that is about to be delivered is very important and should be taken seriously. Repeating “I want to talk about”, put emphasis on the fact that what we need to further our society, by fulfilling the obligations one at a time. On the other hand, right after Obama states her “demands” in a sense, she goes on to talk about the influential hardships, which help create Bowie State. By pushing education so hard in one certain place of the speech, hurt the overall message. Later on in the speech Obama’s diction starts to confuse the audience, because of what she applies education will do for a person. Obama states that “people, who are more educated live longer ” (291), which may be true, but this statistic does not help her argument. First of all, the fact that Obama states this random fact the education equals a longer life, makes the audience think that college is the way of life and is needed to be successful in the long. This statistic, neglects and disregards the valiant efforts of those who do not attend college, which minimize the blood, sweat and tears that those people have put in over the years, trying to be successful. Due the vagueness of this statistic, diminishes a hurts Obama creditability, because it makes ones opinion, such as audience question the validity and true purpose of why education is so important. After being so vague with the prior quote, it is essential for Obama to gain the attention of the audience back and she does so by stating her testimony. Coming from a family of just average people, makes you feel as though that you want to accomplish the things they did not. For instance, Obama states “see my parents go to college, but they were determined to give us that opportunity” (pg.293), by being allowed the opportunity to go and pursue what her parents did not allowed Obama to become the person she is now. This by far was the most logical place for Obama to put her background story, because it is close to the end of her speech which once again emphasizes the point that she is more relatable to her speech as well. Obama’s background also solidifies that she is a creditable and her speech is just as well. In one word to describe this speech, would have to be “grit” because the entire speech is centered upon the new generation, being able to regain the hunger for education once again. Obama was able to get her claim across by being able to relate the college students, through her simple verbiage, that opened up her speech. Continuing throughout the speech, Obama solidifies her creditability, by constantly referring back to the background of the school, which in return make the students feel even more proud of their accomplishment. The hardships that African American faced, helped Obama develop and gain and appeal to the emotional sense of the audience, by making the audience feel as though, that perseverance will continue to help push them to be successful, throughout the rest of their lives. The obligations and the responsibilities are necessary to help further our society when it comes to anything but in this case specifically education and by pushing the issue, Obama is able to once again show them that, although the work has been put in, that is still more work to do. Although, Obama’s was great in its entirety, there were weak spots with in her speech, such as a misleading statistics, however it could have been fixed, just by putting or citing where the statistic came from, so in some way she could gain her creditability back.
Her main purpose is to explain and inform why college may or may not be worth the cost.
(Owen and Sawhill 208) After all, if our country’s leader is preaching about college being a good thing, it should reflect the views of a majority of people in this country. They then continue to try to make connections with the audience by emphasizing that this is a “we” problem and by recognizing that the decision to go off to college is not an easy one for everybody. These first words in the essay demonstrate a call to the ethos of President Obama and clear cut pathos to bring the authors down to the same level as their audience; However, the rest of the essay is absolutely dominated by
Margaret Talbot spends a good deal of time at the outset of the essay describing the situation at Sarasota High School, Yet her primary subject is neither that school nor its students. What is her rhetorical strategy in examining this one school in such dept?
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.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most important American speeches after being sworn in as president on January 20, 1961. His inauguration speech was so influential that it seized the nation’s attention, and quotes from it are still clearly remembered by people today. It is considered one of the best speeches ever written and ever delivered. It presents a strong appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos and accomplishes what any speaker strives for – it speaks straight to the heart of the audience and inspires people.
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.
John Marsh, Ph.D., shares his epiphany, that his sharing the popular belief that higher education was the answer to bringing about economic equality and curing poverty, was in fact wrong; in this short selection, “Why Education Is Not an Economic Panacea”, taken from his book, “Class Dismissed: Why We Cannot Teach or Learn Our Way Out of Inequality”. Marsh had felt that gaining a higher education himself worked to bring him to a level of economic equality, so, it should work the same way for everyone else. His change of heart comes after perhaps stepping down from the pedestal that many, with lots of letters after their name, sit on, or are put upon by others, and witnessing first-hand the dismal rates of graduation of students in the single course he teaches for The Odyssey Program. Serving as good Public Relations for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the program’s purpose was two-fold; it was to provide, at no cost, college level course(s) for low-income adults and look good for the University. In this excerpt, Marsh’s narrow vision seems to have opened up somewhat, however, it does not demonstrate that his visual field widened enough to see that there is much, much more than simply economics or education that is at play in determining where people end up in the spectrum of being considered successful in the United States. (Marsh 914)
President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Rhetorical Analysis. Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be in safe hands. The speech is similar to ideas obtained from the founding documents and Martin Luther King’s speech to establish ‘our’ goal to get together and take some action on the problems our country is now facing. As President Barack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve his ethos.
President Barack H. Obama has been always using rhetorical strategies in his political speeches. He used these strategies to present important points and views of his in front of public. Delivering points and views properly and logically got him to be the president in the first place. President Obama used mostly ethos and pathos, yet some logos to deliver his inaugural and the state of union speeches. Being that, he was able to reach the audience emotionally and make the speech flow efficiently while he preserved his credibility. Each speech has own audience that differs from the other. In the inaugural speech the audience was the public and therefor the speech was short and used short sentences that are easy to understand. On the other hand, the state of union speech’s audience was mostly the congers members and therefore the language was more specific and filled with political terminology. Both speeches will be discussed upon context and using ethos, pathos and logos consecutively.
Commencement speeches, which are presented in American graduation ceremonies, aim to inspire and motivate. Successfully, Nora Ephron 's commencement speech addressed to the Wellesley Class of 1996; inspired her audience to "be the heroine of [their '] li[ves], not the victim". Through anecdotes, Ephron explored the differences between her education and the graduates at Wellesley College, to remind the women graduating that whilst society was different in many ways, in particular for women, "there was still a glass ceiling".
On March 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural speech. Abraham Lincoln begins by addressing the nation on the ongoing civil war and his hopes on the nation uniting as a country again. Lincoln tells them “ The progress of our arms upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it its, “ Lincoln is saying that he is equal to the public and that he has also felt the wars effect. I think the main reason why this speech was written was to start reconstruction. Since the Civil War just ended, now is the time to start reconstruction. Later on, Lincoln starts talking about the North and South. It says,“ Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nations survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish.” It means that the North and South weren’t planning on war but because of wanting to save their nation, they sacrificed themselves and started a war. Lincoln then states, “ To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. He is saying that the war happened not because of the issue of owning slavery but because of the expansion of slavery.
Studying a university degree is one of the biggest achievements of many individuals around the world. But, according to Mark Edmunson, a diploma in America does not mean necessarily studying and working hard. Getting a diploma in the United States implies managing with external factors that go in the opposite direction with the real purpose of education. The welcome speech that most of us listen to when we started college, is the initial prank used by the author to state the American education system is not converging in a well-shaped society. Relating events in a sarcastic way is the tone that the author uses to explain many of his arguments. Mark Edmunson uses emotional appeals to deliver an essay to the people that have attended College any time in their life or those who have been involved with the American education system.
On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama made arguably his most important speech, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. These conventions are for political parties to announce a winner for nomination. All the way through his piece, Obama focuses on connecting Americans and himself to the audience. In fact, at the time, Barack Obama was a US Senate candidate for the United States president, and in making this speech, was offered a window for raising his popularity. Throughout “The Audacity of Hope” speech, Barack Obama implements three main devices to raise his political popularity: repetition, abstract language, and structure.
Graduating from school is only one of the essential tools for a young person to have a successful life. A person endures many long years of schooling, and then the graduation day finally arrives. That special day is one of the most momentous days in a young student’s life. Happiness and sadness are the two emotions a person will feel on that special day. A student will experience happiness because of a significant milestone that was completed in the student’s life. The sad emotions will arise because of a terrifying new chapter in the book of life that is about to begin. Both Bradley Whitford and His Holiness the Dalai Lama give their commencement speeches by using humor to relax the mood of the crowd, making light of their fame, and giving the usual words of wisdom to the graduating class of students.
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.