On Thursday, January 20, 2005 George W. Bush stood before America once again. However, this time he was not concerned with filling his father’s presidential shoes. This time it was much more important, and a major part of American history. This time he stood before America in the aftermath of tragic September 11th, 2001 and the beginning of a war with Iraq. Throughout his speech Bush uses multiple strategies, techniques and devices. Specifically, he uses references to American history, denotation, and metaphors. Bush uses these techniques throughout the speech in order to persuade the audience without seeming redundant or obnoxious. The United States of America is a country founded on rebellious and stubborn actions. Consequently, we are a nation with diverse and deep history. Bush was aware of …show more content…
Many metaphors are used to create a picture in the minds of readers, or in this case the audience of all the citizens of America. However, some of Bush’s metaphors go beyond just that. For example, he refers to a fire often throughout his speech. He is not meaning a fire with flames and heat but he is referring to the disaster and result a fire has. For example, in paragraph three, the last line refers to a fire. This line says “and then there came a day of fire”. This is the first use of the word fire within his speech. He makes it clear that he is referring to September 11th. He introduces this early to insure that the audience will understand his further points in which he uses the term fire. In paragraph 21, line 5, Bush says “we have lit a fire as well-a fire in the hearts of men”. This statement is another metaphor. He is using fire to represent a passion, drive, and enthusiasm. He is ironically using the same words that he used to describe the impact on America the day of September 11th. Bush does this in order to grab the audience’s attention and back his point with emotional
The use of persuasive literary devices and tactics guarantee a strong and powerful address. However, Trump’s address, could leave Americans feeling unsettled as he manipulates a traditional address. He synthesizes an addresses that will surely be remembered for its lack of sophistication, abandoned formality, and aggressive tone. The ramifications of breaking tradition results in Trump’s failure to prompt
In the “George Bush’ Columbia” speech, George W. Bush used a variety of ways in order to make his mark and effectively assemble his dialog. One of the most prominent strategies Mr. Bush used was his sentence structure. He did a great job shaping his speech by initially addressing the problem at hand. He first stated what happened, who it happened to, and gave his condolences to the ones who didn’t make it, along with their families. Mr. Bush also seemed sincere throughout his speech as he made sure to mention each hero apart of the crew. Another technique George W. Bush displayed was the diction and tone he used while delivering the speech. From listening to the audio last week, I remember the passion behind Bush’s words and the sincerity
On March 4th, 1865, the Civil War was drawing to an end and Abraham Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address to become the President of the United States for the second time. At this point it was clear that the North was to win the war. Instead of boasting and bragging about his victory, Lincoln took a different route in his speech. He focused instead on putting the war behind the nation and reunifying the country. In this famous speech, he used various forms of rhetoric and literary devices to achieve this goal. He first employs the use of God to appeal to the pathos in the people of the North and South. The overall tone of the speech is also one of unification rather than that of celebration. Going with this is his word choice or diction; he continuously addresses the country as one instead of two split parts. These literary devices are crucial to the success of his core purpose of speech.
Bush opens his speech by acknowledging the events of September 11, and those that lost the lives of loved ones and to those that gave their life trying to save others in the buildings. He appeals to those that remain strong by saying that, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” His use of pathos helps Bush to calm and control the public in order to keep the country together. This
There have been many historical events in history that have impacted America in many ways. For example, famous Speeches given by important people such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the united states which his main goal was to help America recover from the severe economic issues during the 1930’s. Roosevelt used rhetorical devices to persuade desperate Americans, wounded from the Great Depression, by introducing a plan which it will be the best way to recover from the severe crisis that affected Americans. In Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, he used personification, diction, and antimetabole to convey his conflicting feelings about the New Deal, in order to face the economic issues
President Bush and Prime Minister Blair delivered speeches shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia, which occurred on September 11, 2001. Former President George W Bush utilized pathos, anaphora, and personification in his speech to convey an optimistic tone. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, addressing the same topic, utilized mild invective and parallel structure to express an affirmative tone. Throughout the speech, the former President George W. Bush strives to empower Americans by instructing them to remain resolute, but to “go back to [their] lives and routines”. He uses the personal pronoun we and the common pronoun us repeatedly to indicate that the people of the United States, who either saw the event on television or experienced this event firsthand, were and still are involved in this national tragedy.
It all happened in an instant. One minute thousands of civilians were on their way to work when everything changed. President George Bush gave an iconic speech that was not only memorable but gave hope to the Americans that justice would be served to those associated with the terrorist group al-Qaida. George Bush’s speech rallied the Americans to fight back against the terrorists because he used rhetorical devices such as parallelism, analogies, and repetition.
President George W. Bush use of symbolic strategies is admirable, regardless of one’s beliefs with politics. With his crucial tone combined with anaphoras and pathos, Bush created a speech that was inspiring and provoking. Looking back at everything, it is apparent that Bush used his successful speech as a stepping stone to go into Afghanistan, and then later Iraq. Bush’s 9/11 speech will go down in history and nobody will ever forget about this tragic, horrendous event that shocked our country worldwide.
Bush demonstrates that with the use of metaphors, personification, and also repetition. Using metaphor, he compares America to steel, saying that America is like steel, but not pliable. Portraying that whatever dangerous act comes to America, America will stay strong and not move. Personification is to explain the reasoning behind the terrorists’ operations and the motives behind this move. Bush gives feeling and visualization traits to the nation, consequently putting it in the nation’s point of view, highlighting what the nation felt and saw. Repetition is to bring America together and strengthen everyone. It is to show that this heartbreaking event did not just affect the victims, but it affects the entire country. The way Bush uses repetition to get the people of America together makes America stronger because the more a country is together, the more power and strength it will possess. As a final point, President Bush’s usage of these three rhetorical devices grabs the attention of the people and helps Bush express the type of tone he wants to get
'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.' In the delivery of Lincoln's 'Second Inaugural,' many were inspired by this uplifting and keen speech. It had been a long war, and Lincoln was concerned about the destruction that had taken place. Worn-out from seeing families torn apart and friendships eradicated, he interpreted his inaugural address. It was March of 1865, and the war, he believed, must come to an end before it was too late. The annihilation that had taken place was tragic, and Lincoln brawled for a closure. The 'Second Inaugural' was very influential, formal, and emotional.
Because of the controversial issues surrounding President G.W. Bush before and during the time of his reelection, the acceptance speech that he delivered is an important piece of literature to study. This diplomatic speech is a piece of rhetorical contribution because the motives and meanings behind any President’s speech is significant to us as citizens of the United States of America. It further warrants our attention because if the audience is able to comprehend the inner meanings and motives behind a presidential speech, then they will eventually be able to differentiate the actual stances and platforms of future presidential candidates and nominees.
President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Rhetorical Analysis. Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be in safe hands. The speech is similar to ideas obtained from the founding documents and Martin Luther King’s speech to establish ‘our’ goal to get together and take some action on the problems our country is now facing. As President Barack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve his ethos.
Within both Presidential speeches diction is used to similarly inform and alleviate the American people. Franklin D. Roosevelt admits he and the U.S. government were “deceived” (5) by a “deliberately planned” (5) attack which, he declares, will be remembered with “infamy” (2). Roosevelt targets Japan with spiteful and traitorous words letting Americans know he too is vengeful and offended by the attack. George W. Bush gathers nations together for the “fight of all” (35) against the “murderers” (13) of al Qaeda to stop their “evil and destruction” (16). George W. Bush cons the idea of al Qaeda being a natural embodiment of evil, boldly shaming the group for their atrocities to show his disagreement with al Qaeda’s beliefs. Likewise, he and Bush reveal the enemy with malice statements, providing model images of the enemy for Americans to accept and channel their hate towards. Both Presidents know of the panic and fear the American people now have, therefore they each use powerful words to portray fearlessness of the enemy. According to Roosevelt, the actions of the Japanese empire “...
A variety of techniques enable Obama to help convince his audience of his propositions. Obama’s
President George W. Bush is notorious for horrible public speaking, tripping over his words and making silly mistakes are not uncommon in President Bush’s speeches. When 9/11 struck the heart of America we turned to President Bush to guide us back to the path of calm and reason. The American population tends to lean on our President in time of tragedy to serve as a system of support. Instantly after the World Trade Center buildings were attacked President Bush addressed the nation on live television. Bush used neo-Aristotelian tactics: ethos, pathos, and logos to instate a sense of patriotism, argue that America will recover from this tragedy and bring justice to our nation.