“America Needs Its Nerds” an article created by Leonid Fridman, puts forth a pertinent issue in today’s society: intellectually adept students are ostracized. Fridman argues that smart, curious students need to stop feeling ashamed for being smart and curious. Society needs to change because their current philosophy towards intellect is one of pessimism. Fridman develops these arguments in his essay by utilizing the rhetorical strategy of parallelism, drawing conclusions, and through his use of diction.
Ethos is “the character and credibility of the writer in the eyes of the reader.” An example of this is, “We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions..”. The author shows their credibility by stating they are representatives of the United States of America. The authors also portrayed this by, “In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms.” By saying this, the authors show they have tried to set agreed terms with
John F. Kennedy uses literary devices to capture the attention of the audience, sets himself equal to his audience getting their attention and support, and uses the christian religion to strike the emotions and gain the support of his audience.
Ethos is when one gives credibility. President Johnson has credibility in his speech when he claims, “Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the congress…” Mr. President also uses ethos when he states “...at the request of your beloved speaker, and the senator from Montana, the majority leader, the Senator from Illinois, the minority leader, Mr. McCulloch, and other members of both parties, I came here tonight…” These are example of ethos by giving credibility to everyone he mentioned. Aside from ethos there is pathos.
Abigail Adams in the letter to her son, John Quincy Adams, suggests that he be brave and a great man. Adams supports her suggestion to John by explaining what he should do and that he should be strong, mentally, on the trip. The authors purpose is to encourage the son to be a strong man in order to last on the trip, do honor to their country, and become a great man in the future. The author writes in an inspirational tone for her son John Quincy Adams. She incorporates many different literary techniques in order to get the mood and tone across to her son.
In Thomas Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence,” he uses rhetorical devices to convey his purpose which is to say that colonies have decided to break their bond with the King and Great Britain and to explain their reasoning. One of the devices used the most to convey his purpose was parallelism. Jefferson also uses repetition to make his reasons clear. Some might think that his use of restatement further makes his points clear; however, they are wrong. Jefferson uses rhetorical devices like parallelism and repetition to explain the reasonings of the Colonists decision to break their bonds with the King and Britain.
Many people rely on the opinions of others, never truly stopping to personally consider the subject at hand. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an impactful American writer, wrote a piece entitled Self- Reliance. In Self-Reliance, Emerson’s purpose is to promote ideas of individualistic thinking. Emerson uses strong, rhetorical strategies, such as figurative language, allusions, and complex syntax and parallelism to effectively persuade his audience to trust their own thoughts.
We are inspired by great speeches because of the way they are rhetorically crafted to make us feel. The best speeches are not the ones that are informational, it’s the ones that tug at our heartstrings. John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, Martin L. King’s I Have a Dream Speech, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms State of the Union Address use a variety of literary devices in their speech to motivate and cajole their audiences to defend our liberties.
The Inaugural speech by John F. Kennedy is a landmark type of speech that was given to the American populace in order to inspire confidence and to provoke them to take immediate action. His speech made extensive use of rhetorical devices in order to successfully express his goals. His stylistic devices include antithesis, parallelism, and varying structure flows in order to attract attention and to show what his service will accomplish. Kennedy details “a new generation of Americans” by contrasting old and new with his antithesis. He states, “Symbolizes an end as well as a beginning” and “signifies renewal as well as change” in order to do so. This connects the younger generation of Americans and the older generation. He unites them under one goal and one purpose by using antithesis, ignoring their differences, and prepares them for what’s there to come in the future.
Robert Kennedy’s speech was given during a campaign rally in 1968, he broke the news to a crowd of supporters that MLK had been killed. This speech was analyzed through a PDF copy of the text.
In 1962 President John F. Kennedy held a press conference in which he informed the audience on his stance for the rising steel prices. Kennedy not only wanted to inform the audience, he wanted to get them on his side of the argument. He wanted to show the audience that the rising steel prices were going to have a negative impact on the nation. To do this Kennedy used some of the rhetoric strategies and tools. He used periodic sentences, anaphora, and diction. By using these strategies Kennedy was able to put emphasis in his speech. He effectively showed the audience Hayes viewpoint on the rising steel prices through his word choice.
Krakauer uses this euphemis because he believes that McCandless wasn’t insane, he was clever just the way he is. He follows what he wanted to be and what he wanted to become, he didn’t back just because people said he wasn’t like other people, who would have jobs and build a family.
Ethos is when someone, the persuader, uses their credibility and character to convince a certain audience to go along with their opinion.Within the Narrative, Douglass uses this type of appeal to gain the
What are rhetorical devices? How can they be used? Martin Luther King Jr. numerous rhetorical devices in the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” writing to clergymen who wrote a public letter calling King’s actions “unwise and untimely” and telling him to “wait.” Despite Martin Luther King Jr. using many rhetorical devices in his letter, ethos and anaphora are the most powerful, for they increase credibility and create rhythm and urgency.
In his news conference, John F. Kennedy utilizes juxtaposition and parallelism to support his idea that with the decline of huge companies, the price of things is going to start to increase significantly for Americans.