Textual Analysis Of A Speechmakers

Speeches are dreaded by many. The fear of public speaking is one that is engraved into most people’s brains at an early age. There are many great speeches known to man; the Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr's “I Have a Dream” and the two that will be contrasted in this essay; Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I Woman” and Florence Kelley's speech on child labor and women's suffrage. Both of these speeches were given at women’s rights conventions, Truth’s in 1851 in Ohio and Kelley’s in 1905 in Philadelphia. Although the two speakers are opposites (Kelley being an educated white woman and Truth being a freed slave who often shows her illiteracy throughout her speech) they both depend on rhetorical questions, exemplification, repetition, pronoun

The world is cruel and harsh; what does it take to prove that you and your experiences are capable of persuasion. In this world, you’d want as many allies as possible, and building emotional bridges with others is a definite way of proving that you matter to others. It’s a matter of philosophy; human nature emphasizes on individual existence; therefore rhetoric is effective to measure one’s importance. Elie Wiesel, a man of age, is a jewish holocaust survivor who has a story to tell and a story to be heard. Does the man have what it takes to prove himself worthy of a rhetoric leader? Elie Wiesel’s speech, The Perils of Indifference, Mr. Wiesel takes advantage of rhetorical questions and the appeals of pathos and logos to persuade and inform the audience about their inner indifference towards the havoc happening around the world.

Today I have chosen two speeches which are critical to the growth and development that our nation has gone through. Two men from different backgrounds and different times with one common goal, equality for all. The Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” both address the oppression of the African-Americans in their cultures. Though one hundred years and three wars divide the two documents, they draw astonishing parallels in they purposes and their techniques.

On the 12th of April, in the year 1999, Elie Wiesel gave a speech at the White House. Several members of congress, President Clinton, and the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, were present to listen to him. His speech became a powerful testament to the pitfalls and dangers of being indifferent to the sufferings of others. However, Wiesel’s speech was also a very skillful exercise in using rhetoric for persuasion. By using certain wording and striking the right balance of facts and emotions, he was moving the audience in the direction of understanding his point of view. He was moving the audience to not feel sympathy, but actual empathy to the events he was speaking about. To feel the as closely as he felt for these events in history. He acted as judge, jury, disappointed parent and as vengeful deity. In this paper, I will examine key elements of his speech to show that by instilling deep feelings of shame, fear, and even pride at the right moments can inspire people to open their minds to the dangers of ignoring the pleads of help from their fellow man.

The fight for civil rights and freedom is a reoccurring subject that has appeared throughout American history. Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail” were written over one hundred years apart. Although they are set in different time periods, they discuss the rights the American people should have, while also criticizing the people with superior power in the government. Thoreau’s aggressive writing style and King’s peaceful, calm style help to deliver their messages. Not only their writing style but also their emotional appeals, tone, and other rhetorical strategies help to give their audience a sense of the social issues they are disagreeing strongly with.

1.If you were stripped of your freedom and individuality to be held in a camp waiting to die would you feel indifferent. Elie Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Boston University Professor, presented a speech as part of the Millennium Lecture Series at the White House on April 12, 1999 2.(Wiesel 221). President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton hosted the formal event. Numerous government officials from a wide order of public, private and foreign office attended the event 2.(Wiesel 221). Although Elie Wiesel designed his speech to persuade, it actually felt somewhat outside from its original intended purpose, as being more different.

Margaret Atwood’s Spotty-Handed Villainesses (1994) and Anwar Sadat’s Statement to the Knesset (1977) are both speeches worthy of critical study because of their fascinating ideas and values.

On April 12 1999 in Washington D.C., Elie Wiesel delivered a powerful speech called, “The Perils of Indifference”. He was invited by then President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton to give a speech for the Millennium Lecture Series hosted by the White House. He used various rhetorical devices to persuade his audience of the consequences of being indifferent to injustices. He used tone in his voice during very emotional portions of his speech. He also used examples of pathos, logos, and ethos throughout his speech to bolster his argument. Wiesel also used repetition in order to provide emphasis on certain words and to also deter define a term to the audience. He also used imagery to help the envision details to them that they may have not ever experience themselves. He also used anaphora and anadiplosis in his speech to help his points come across smoothly and to bring greater emphasis. By using these various rhetorical devices in his speech, Wiesel was able to give a memorable and convincing speech about not being indifferent to injustice.

An oratorical speech aims to influence listeners to change their ideas or at least consider the ideas of the speaker for the latter to ponder. This paper will analyze the speech given by Susan Anthony, a feminist advocate who saw the injustice in the political sphere during her time. Her speech was a moving piece which aimed to stop the discrimination and let women exercise the rights guaranteed by the constitution. The said speech will be evaluated in terms of the strategies used and also the influence of such speech to the society in the end.

Speeches have important roles in history with many different purposes. One of the great speeches in history is former U.S president Ronald Reagan’s “Berlin Wall” speech where he spoke about the importance of freedom to the German people and in an act of encouragement to the German people told Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall!” Another amazing speech came when Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain gave a speech to 120 mutineers from the Maine regiment. This situation where he used a speech to rally 120 mutineer soldiers who were tired and defeated to come march with his corp who were already dwindling in numbers. How Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s character traits are shown by the speech,The words that resonate with me the reader, how viewing Chamberlain’s speech in the film Gettysburg enhances his words, and also how the two mediums of video and print compare.

Imagine trying to show the Nation what a candidate was doing wrong in a time of war and having to be responsible if I was to go wrong. In 1964, Ronald Reagan gave the “A Time for A Choosing” speech which was aired on television all over the United States. Reagan wanted to discuss what was going on with the presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. During this time many rumors about Goldwater were spread around the U.S. Most were about how Barry was planning to “re-segregate” America if he was elected as president(). Future President, Ronald Reagan, gave the speech “A Time for A Choosing” because he wanted to show America what was going on in Vietnam, how he could help with it and what Goldwater was doing that was hurting America.

Speeches are dreaded by many. The fear of public speaking is one that is engraved into most people’s brains at an early age. There are many great speeches known to man; the Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr 's “I Have a Dream” and the two that will be contrasted in this essay; Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I Woman” and Florence Kelley 's speech on child labor and women 's suffrage. Both of these speeches were given at women’s rights conventions, Truth’s in 1851 in Ohio and Kelley’s in 1905 in Philadelphia. Although the two speakers are opposites (Kelley being an educated white woman and Truth being a freed slave who often shows her illiteracy throughout her speech) they both depend on rhetorical questions, exemplification, repetition, and with these devices, their establishment of pathos to encourage and call their audience to action. While Florence Kelley’s speech does well, Sojourner Truth’s is more effective due to the fact that she pinpoints the enemy and draws her audience together with her word choice.

We have many great speakers influencing many people, but there were two of them who’s were memorable and remarkable. President Lincoln delivered “The Gettysburg Address” one hundred and fifty-three years ago in Pennsylvania to honor the soldiers who died in war. Just as hundred years later Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech was longer than Lincoln’s speech, but it was still magnificent to influence other people. These two men spoke these words to give freedom against racism, and to remind the nation to fight for freedom. But these speakers didn’t it by just saying the words; they did it by how they said the words.

Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer all delivered powerful, persuasive speeches that will go down in history. The use of these creative individuals’ language and persuasion played a pivotal role within the civil rights movement. We can observe this in the speakers’ rhetoric devices like ethos, logos and pathos.

Abstract— In the study of history of human civilization it is found that there was a continuous trend of torturing the weak by more powerful individuals or groups, exploitation of the poor by the rich and landed people, neglect of the illiterate by the educated people, socially overpowering women by men and as such injustices. Such social injustices are a constant source of discontent giving rise to conflicts. Instead of solving those conflicts they were always suppressed. In the progress of civilization and development of humanistic attitude, people are now gradually getting more and more concerned with Human Rights that demand social justice to all sections of the society. Extreme poverty and illiteracy among a major section of the population is the greatest tragedy for India. Also, in the global context a reasonable economic order through equitable distribution of wealth among different nations and more particularly among the people of the same country is very much needed to avoid conflicts and clashes.