Amatniek Speech Analysis

The world has developed in many areas such as in gender, sexual, and racial rights. Shirley Chisholm stands as one of these individuals in history that has paved a path to equality. Her Presidential bid, delivered on January 25, 1972, is one moment cemented in history. This paper will analyze that speech by examining her pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos is Greek for an appeal of emotion.

Since women could not vote, many abolitionists appealed only to men under the assumption that there was no other way to create change. However, Grimke disagreed and wanted to encourage all people to act against slavery. She knew many women would be paying attention to the speeches only passively since they don’t expect the instructions given will be useful to them. Because of the mob outside the lecture hall screaming threats and throwing rocks, Grimke abandons more subtle, intellectual ways to regain women’s attention in favor of a simple exclamatory sentence: “Women of Philadelphia! Allow me as a Southern woman, with much attachment to the land of my birth, to entreat you to come up to this work.”

In the 1960s the African Americans were freed, but did they really have all the rights they were promised? Racial conflicts were everywhere. Lyndon B. Johnson was current president and was trying to encourage congress to pass a bill called The Voting Rights Act. To influence the vote he gave the speech “We Shall Overcome.” In “We Shall Overcome” President Lyndon Johnson used ethos, pathos, logos, and other rhetorical devices such as allusions, repetition and appeals to authority to persuade congress to pass the act.

The public speaker starts off by bringing pathos into the speech by asserting “I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! Ain’t I a woman?” (“Ain’t I a woman”). That statement established an emotional bond between herself and the mothers in the audience, however, the spokesperson not only appeals to the African Americans in the audience, but also to the White mothers in the audience, too. The merging of the two races created a greater appeal to the audience, as a whole, because they all have shared one common goal, the desire of wanting women to be given equal

had been treated poorly all his life because of his skin, he speaks out against the wrongdoing and racism. His purpose is to convince people that racism has bad effects on victims and to make the idea more prevalent. While he’s speaking, he brings up a few emotional situations like, “With this faith we will be able to work together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing we will be free one day.” MLK Jr.’s use of vocabulary conveys his emotion towards the topic and involves listeners using pathos. Because MLK Jr. knew racism was an issue in his time, he speaks out against it.

Martin Luther Kings persuasive and empowering speeches played a huge role in the Civil Rights Movements. Through his peaceful protests and captivating speeches, MLK blew the minds of his followers — they tore down racial barriers, such as ending public segregation, that had been set in stone for decades. It was public figures like him who truly shaped this movement. Another popular public figure, Cesar Chavez, was someone from a different race but had almost the same goal as Martin Luther king, to end discrimination, racism, and exploitation inside America. Though both MLK and Cesar Chavez fought for their rights using none violence tactics, members of the gay community, (LGBT), did the opposite.

People remember this has a great speech because what she represents in this speech is hope, gratefulness, and guidance. Also the rhetorical devices she uses makes the speech that much more personal. Her use of an apostrophe or using an imaginary person was a great addition to the speech. She stats “ where after all do universal human rights begin? In a small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world of the individual person; the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends”(adoption).

For example Anthony says, “but this oligarchy of sex, which makes father, brothers, husband, sons, the oligarchs over the mother and sisters, the wife and daughters, of every household” This is very sad since women and girls should not be ruled or told what to do because they are thought of to be less than man. The constitution is in place to have a unified country not to have an oligarchy of men lead households. The pathos appeal is used to show what suffering women are going through due to men ruling them, and not knowing how to fight back. Susan B. Anthony in her speech also says, “Are women persons?.....and no state has the right to make a law, or to enforce an old law, that shall abridge their privileges and immunities.”, which also connects with the emotions of the audience. She is trying to make people feel bad that women are treated less even though they are just as righteous as men to have the same privileges.

Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address, rhetorical appeals are strongly used to convey his purpose that there is a drastic need for a change in equality in America. Within the process of swaying his audience, Kennedy connects and emotionally involves his viewers through a fear factor. He relates to his audience and gains trustworthiness by expressing his morals and including himself in these issues. He consistently backs up his claims with facts and examples, which signifies the importance and seriousness of the presented problems. These appeals are used throughout Kennedy’s address to reiterate his argument that the system needs changing.

William Jennings Bryan delivered this speech on July 9th, 1896. It was known as the “Cross of Gold” speech. He wanted to use silver for the national currency and not just gold. On March 4th ,1895 a few Democrats addressed the ongoing question of “should silver be used as the national currency?” If so, then the people who believed it should needed to form organizations and take charge to make silver the national currency. People are worried that if silver becomes our national currency then they will lose money because silver does not equal up to the amount that gold it worth.

On November 13th, 1969, Spiro Agnew, who was the Vice President at the time, gave the speech, Television News Coverage, about how news producers are becoming too powerful (Bibliography.com.) To successfully inform his audience, he uses many rhetorical strategies to keep everyone engaged and attentive. Agnew delivered an exceptional speech by using multiple techniques such as analogies, anaphoras, parallelism, and rhetorical questions to justify this problem to his audience.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.

March Rhetorical Analysis The 1960’s civil rights movement often used persuasive language to echo the unheard voices of many individuals. Some more than others possessed the ability to exercise their potent use of language to bring forward prominent changes. In the book, March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, eloquent methods of speech play an important role. John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and George Wallace are some that expressed their beliefs through persuasive empowering words.

On the 27th of October in 1964, Ronald Reagan gave a speech called “A Time for Choosing” on behalf of Barry Goldwater. His speech was so popular that it is also known as “The Speech”. Afterwards, Ronald Reagan ,also known as The Great Communicator, was thought of by many people as a great political speaker. This speech was given to endorse the Goldwater campaign, even though Goldwater lost the election. The Speech launched Reagan’s political career into action and he later went on to be the Californian governor and President of the United States. Reagan used passion, logic, and his great reputation to build up his and Goldwater’s careers.

The various ideologies of love mentioned by speakers in Plato’s Symposium portrayed the social and cultural aspect of ancient Greece. In the text, there were series of speeches given by Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Socrates, and Agathon about the idea of love, specifically the effect and nature of Eros. Within the speakers, Agathon’s speech was exceptional in that his speech shifted the focus of the audience from effect of Eros on people, to the nature and gifts from the Eros. Despite Agathon’s exceptional remarks about Eros, Socrates challenged Agathon’s characterization of Eros through utilization of Socratic Method.