Rhetorical Analysis: John Legend John Legend, a man of many musical talents, was chosen to give the commencement speech to Kean University’s class of 2011. He did not rely on his musical accomplishments to win over the audience of the graduates and family members, but used his knowledge of problems in the education system to show everyone how lucky they are to receive this gift of tools to succeed in life. Within his speech he effectively encouraged the audience to use their knowledge to make a change by comprising his speech mainly of pathos, to shed light with the troubles in the education system. He used logos to show how these problems happening are real rather than just theories, but stayed away from the appeal of ethos because his message was not to point out all of his achievements. Throughout the speech John Legend did not try to create his ethos through all of his own personal accomplishments in the music world to significantly establish his credibility to the audience.
These sentences give his speech more depth which can be considered hidden energy. Through antithesis, Kennedy shows his purpose is to target things that they should do by first telling them what they should not do in order to achieve unity and liberty. Declarative sentences show that the speaker is not afraid, not uncertain and is a powerful leader. If Kennedy had shown weakness, the public would not trust him and other countries would try to take advantage of
Lee Bollinger most certainly did not deliver a proper introduction. An introduction is designed for one speaker to introduce another. “When you introduce one speaker to another, you want them to get interested in each other and to like each other: You want speaker and audience to be interested and feel warmth and friendliness. Also a speaker should give background information to enhance the speaker’s credibility with the audience (Hamilton Gregory, Public Speaking for College and Career).” Also and introduction should never insult or offend the next speaker. In lee Bollinger speech he accused Ahmadinejad of being petty and cruel and criticized his dictatorship as a president.
Kennedy says “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country…” this is said backwards so the Americans start thinking about the country as a whole. He wants to get the American people to help the country instead of helping themselves. Another antimetable he uses is “as not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” He wants Americans to work together to help the country as a whole. He doesn’t want them to just rely on the government to fix things. Alliteration in J.F.K’s speech helps draw attention to his points.
Indecisive people can pass on their responsibilities and “pass the buck,” and advisory people can propose their concepts and lobby for acceptance, but the President can ultimately turn to nobody else. Presidents must make the hard decisions. It is a heavy mantle to bear on those presidential shoulders. It is lonely at the top. President Johnson’s “wise men” possessed depth in their areas of expertise beyond that of the President, who was a master mover of legislation to accomplish domestic social programs but very much out of his league in military matters and international relations.
I will focus on the use of deixis employed in the speech which, I will argue, creates an effect of unity on one side and “outsiders” on the other. The use of person deixis in the speech, in these circumstances, is worth investigating. Unlike his previous public performances, where Obama aimed to convince the audience that he was the right candidate for the position of a congressman or, later, a president, here he is a victor and addressing his message from a position of Head of State. He, probably, does not need to put his personality in focus any longer, but rather needs the support for his future challenges. In this case the pronoun I, which was used generously in Obama’s previous speeches, emerges only three times in his
He opens his speech by acknowledging the role of religious groups in the building of the American society. This is an issue that had no coverage in Johnson’s address. While Reagan concentrates on religious beliefs as the instigators of social growth and development, Johnson preferred that use of education and riches as the means to achieve the same goal. This contrast is evident in the way these two presidents gave their opening speeches. The other big contrast between these two speeches is Reagan’s reiteration the freedom and liberty are things that can only be enjoyed with the full blessings of God (Rodgers, 2011, p164).
When the government or the president addressed this issue they were practicing the art of rhetorical discourse by addressing and reacting to the given situation. Without the problem of health care reform, it is just pointless conversation occurring or what we call “small talk,” at the very least. Bitzer explains that there are three parts that make up a rhetorical situation in order for discourse to occur; exigence, audience, and constraints. The exigence is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect or an obstacle. If I use the speech former President Bush gave after the 9/11 attacks as an example, he delivered those speeches due to the fact that there was a situation that required attention, or exigence.
The color of President Obama’s skin is not what makes him known or idolized it is because of what he stands for and the values he believes in. From the very beginning he fought hard to show Americans what we have been lacking for a very long time; hope. He came into a country that was
By using many quotes, statistics, and descriptive details Clarke makes the writing complete. It’s as if he gives a little taste of everything, but that miniscule amount is sufficient to feed one’s imagination. Clarke really makes a homerun, his purpose to demonstrate how well Kennedy’s speech was and how/why it was successful, also to demonstrate the genuine president that Kennedy was; in which he clearly accomplishes. Personally never paid much attention to any president’s speech nor wanted to read it, but after reading “Why JFK’s Inaugural Succeeded”, the motivation and very enthusiasm to read Kennedy’s speech was unavoidable. Amazingly an author can really engage his/her audience, but that really takes a lot.