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Rhetorical Analysis Of Ho Chi Minh's The Declaration Of Independence

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Ho Chi Minh, a revolutionary for the Vietnamese nationalist movement was a key figure for many during the Vietnam War leading his country to independence. The Declaration of Independence, written by Ho Chi Minh focuses on the reasons for behind disclosing independence for Vietnam. Before the Vietnam war, two authors depicted their view on human values, specifically on the importance of independence, Henry Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau, a man imprisoned unjustly for one to two years, later wrote Civil Disobedience, stating one man’s view on how a government should be. Emerson, the founder of the Transcendentalist movement, delivered Self-Reliance, to urge readers to be unique. All writers wanted to deliver a sense of sovereignty …show more content…

Using words such as “abusing,” “violated,” and “oppressed” appeals to the audience that leaders of the free world should support them in their independence. On the other hand, with a candid, authoritative, condescending tone, Thoreau illustrates that the United States has committed to being an unjust government because of slavery and aggressive war tactics described in Civil Disobedience. He declares concise, direct states such as “...But at once a better government” declaring his authority for the immediate request for the government to improve. In Self Reliance, Emerson makes his proposition with blunt views on imitation and dependence such as, “...imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.” With these views, he is able to convey to the audience to “work with what they’ve got” rather than be reliant on others to have uniqueness. To appeal to the audience, Emerson changes his tone to more zealous to feed on the emotion of the reader. For instance, “…every heart vibrates to that iron string,” using a metaphor for a reference to music; making the passage more upbeat. Regarding their specific message, each author’s tone came off differently for the purpose of their message be depicted

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