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Analysis 'Ich Bin Ein Berliner'

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FME2.GE7-01 Spoken and Written English Discourse Speech: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ John F. Kennedy Name: Maaike Wittebrood Class: 2ME-2B Student number: 112418 Lecturer: Anita Maessen Author: The author of the speech is John F. Kennedy. He was in 1963 the president of the United States of America. John F. Kennedy became president on 20 January 1961 until his assassination on 22 November 1963. Kennedy was against everything that was associated with communism. He was also a very important person in the ‘Cold War’. Kennedy also was seen as de icon of the Western world of freedom and democracy. Context: The speech was given at June 26, 1963 in West-Berlin. During that time Germany was split up in West-Germany and …show more content…

The middle part of the speech starts after Kennedy says the famous words: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’. After that he starts comparing the freedom and democracy with the communism. Kennedy ends the speech with saying what he mend with the speech; ‘’All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!" Because of the obvious begin-middle-end that the speech has, I find the structure of the speech good. Constraints: At the time the speech was given, like mentioned, the Cold War was going on. This also made that Kennedy has to mind his words more. Because there was a lot of tension going on between the USA and the Soviet-Union, Kennedy had to bare in mind that one sentence which could be interpreted as insulting for the Soviet-Union could start a war. In his speech he says of course some negative things about communism, but he tries to not say it explicit. The Appeals: Ethos: The first main thing that I recognized as ethos was the fact the John F. Kennedy is the president of the USA. It is logic that a president knows what the is talking about and has a clear point of view. Also John F. Kennedy is, like mentioned, the icon of freedom and democracy, so it does make sense if he says ‘You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main.’ (John F. Kennedy. ‘Ich bin ein

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