A Rhetorical Analysis Of Speech By John Mccain

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McCain starts off his speech by using self-disclosure and describing his time as a young man as a navy liaison, and eventually senator, on the senate and working alongside former vice president Joe Biden. “Joe was already a senator, and I was the navy’s liaison to the Senate. My duties included escorting Senate delegations on overseas trips, and in that capacity, I supervised the disposition of the delegation’s luggage, which could require – now and again – when no one of lower rank was available for the job – that I carry someone worthy’s bag” (McCain 2017). Self-Disclosure is the the speaker telling the audience of their personal experiences and tells the audience why they have the personal convictions that they have. (Hamilton 2017) Next, …show more content…

Next, he uses anaphora which I think hit harder in the final paragraph. God bless America being a well known phrase and him repeating solidifies his passion in patriotism. Then, he uses repetition when he talks about the “land of” specific American values and history. He establishes a unity of sorts and attempts to inspire patriotism. Next, he uses Personification by telling of a time he attended George H W Bush’s own award speech. By doing this, he backs his own sense of nationalism when he talks about what Bush said and also quotes him. Additionally, he may or may or not have meant this, but he concludes his speech nearly the same way: “May god bless.” He goes on to use Alliteration with “boisterous, brawling, beautiful, bountiful, and brave. I think he just said these to sound inspiring, and pleasing to the ear. McCains Memorable Phrase, “We live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil,” was quite effective in the sense of summarizing his entire point of what America is and what it should be. Further, he uses an Analogy to push the point of upholding American values at home and abroad. Lastly, McCain uses conversational style, purposeful or not, to show that he is human and to show his humbleness. Overall, I think senator McCain was extremely effective in his persuasive message and I interpreted the speech as he does what he thinks is best while staying true to American values, and is happy to continue to

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