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Rhetorical Analysis of “Men Have Forgotten God”
I have recently finished reading “Men Have Forgotten God” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In his address, Solzhenitsyn discusses the many ways that the world has gradually began to change since its elimination of God. I decided to complete further research about the life of Solzhenitsyn to see if the words I had read were trustworthy and from a Christian standpoint. I also wanted to learn what had inspired Solzhenitsyn to give his address, what his purpose was in giving it, and what audience he had intended it for.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia in 1918 (Grossman). Beginning at the age of ten, Solzhenitsyn had dreams of becoming a writer and getting his works published (“Alexandr Solzhenitsyn-Biographical”). The first interesting fact that I came across during my research was that Solzhenitsyn spent eight years of his life in Soviet detention camps for making “disrespectful remarks about Joseph Stalin,” the leader of the Soviet Union (“Alexandr Solzhenitsyn-Biographical”). Solzhenitsyn also spent three years of his life in exile (“Alexandr Solzhenitsyn-Biographical”). I then discovered that throughout the years Solzhenitsyn spent in the detention camps and exile, his view began to change. He no longer agreed with Russia's communist ways (Grossman). Solzhenitsyn was now a firm believer in Christianity (Grossman). This was the first piece of information that led me to believe that Solzhenitsyn spoke from a Christian standpoint during his speech. After learning about Solzhenitsyn's past and new-found faith, I then wanted to learn about his education and any credentials he may have that would qualify him to give the address “Men Have Forgotten God.” I...
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...fend their faith.
In his address, Solzhenitsyn has several intentions. He attacks the communist ways of Russia and the West and defends Christianity. He exhorts the action of keeping Christ in our hearts and dissuades the action of removing Christ. He praises those who stand for Christ and blames Communist for the downfall of the world.
Completing a rhetorical analysis has altered the way I think whenever I read “Men Have Forgotten God.” I no longer read the address and see it as a piece of writing that does not serve a purpose for the present days, but I see it as something valuable; it is even more important today than it was years ago. The world is continuing to leave God out, and Christians are still failing at coming together as one body to defend their faith. Solzhenitsyn did a fantastic job at getting his point across and letting his intentions be known.
In the late 1800’s America began to take on its own individual identity as a country. The Chicago World's Fair was a great influence for that notion. In Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City he tells a duel nonfictional storyline of one of the fair’s architects and a serial killer living just outside the fair. By using imagery, juxtaposition, and syntax Larson is able to enchant the reader and make the novel read like a fiction.
The chapter, Church, has the troop hold up in a church for a few days. In the church, the monks take an immediately likely to the troop help with food and weapon cleaning. A few of the soldiers discuss what they wanted to do before the war. The troops learn more about each other and insight into what faith can be to them.
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, he preached about a stricter Calvinist theology of Puritanism. Edwards delivered it at the Massachusetts congregation on July 8, 1741. He blatantly uses rhetorical strategies to instill fear into his audience if they are to continue to not be active Puritans in religion. Edwards uses polysyndeton, harsh diction and tone, and the appeal to emotion along with the use of semicolons to develop his message.
“He say Mr. Parris must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man, Mr. Parris mean man and no gentle man and he bid me rise out of bed and cut your throat!” (Miller 47).
“How does it feel to be a problem?” (par. 1). Throughout “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” W.E.B. Du Bois explains the hardships experienced throughout his childhood and through the period of Africans living in America before the civil rights movement. Du Bois begins with his first experience of racism and goes all the way into the process of mentally freeing African Americans. Du Bois describes the struggle of being an African American in a world in which Whites are believed to dominate through the use of Listing, Imagery, and Rhetorical Questioning because these rhetorical devices stress the importance of the topic Du Bois is talking about.
I chose this word because the tone of the first chapter seems rather dark. We hear stories of the hopes with which the Puritans arrived in the new world; however, these hopes quickly turned dark because the Purtains found that the first buildings they needed to create were a prison, which alludes to the sins they committed; and a cemetery, which contradicts the new life they hoped to create for themselves.
20 were executed” (Blumberg). The Crucible setting is based on The Salem Witch trials, but the plot is based on The Red Scare. The author employs strict tone and rhetorical questions to convey power. This connects to the purpose of how a occurring can devastate a whole community and the people in it. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, employs empowerment by expressing the challenges within each character and their influence on the trial through the characters John Proctor, Abigail, and Danforth.
Theology is an intentionally reflective endeavor. Every day we reflect upon the real, vital, and true experience of the benevolent God that exists. We as humans tend to be social beings, and being so we communicate our beliefs with one another in order to validate ourselves. Furthermore atheism has many forms, three of the most popular atheistic beliefs include: scientific atheism, humanistic atheism and the most popular one being protest atheism. Scientific atheism is the idea that science is the answer for everything and god is not existent. The humanistic approach states that society is self-sufficient; therefore God is not needed for survival. Therefore how could he exist? The position that I will argue in this paper is the pessimistic idea of protest atheism.
Solzhenitsyn further argues that World War I, World War II along with the rise of communism in Russia were all caused by the elimination of God in people’s lives. Furthermore, he expounds that though the west has not had a communist invasion, they too have forsaken God. He starts
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God.
Zamyatin wrote his dystopian novel, We, to expose the fact that government will repress human freedom and nature to promote society’s stability. However, the theme of religion can be observed throughout the novel as Zamyatin uses imagery and metaphors to the “old religions.” Even though the Benefactor is seen sparsely through the eyes of the protagonist, His influence on OneState citizens is imminent. The reader is forewarned of the Benefactor’s omnipotence and the harsh judgement with which He governs over the citizens. Zamyatin religious metaphors depicted through the Benefactor and His ruling of One State in We function mainly to critique Christianity to be a totalitarian and deteriorated culture.
“And remember also that fighting against man, we must not come to resemble him” (Orwell 1.11).
St. Theophan of Vysha (+1894), better known as Theophan the Recluse, is one of the great 19th century Russian luminaries of the Orthodox Church whose light reaches even unto us in the present, heterodox West. Being virtually our contemporary, he was nevertheless steeped in the ancient Tradition of the Fathers. Having faced in his life existential and intellectual conditions very similar to our own, he is a bridge to authentic spiritual life in Christ, making the wisdom of the Christian Tradition easily accessible to us. This should not be particularly surprising, for as Christ himself tells us, a light is kindled not to be hidden under a basket but to be held aloft to shed light for all. One must stubbornly persist in blindness not to behold this Light Who has been providentially kindled in St. Theophan for our sake in these latter days.
William H. Swatos, Jr., ed. Twentieth-Century World Religious Movements in Neo-Weberian Perspective. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.
2) Gollwitzer, Helmut. The Existence of God: As Confessed By Faith. Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1965