Literary Devices In Jfk Inaugural Speech

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President John F. Kennedy brings about a new way of thinking in his inaugural speech. He brings in a sense of selflessness and relentlessness for the country. He uses literary devices such as, antithesis, repetition, and rhetorical questions to bring about that sense in the audience. He begins by putting himself to the people and allowing the audience to feel welcomed. The use of literary devices in his speech allows the audience to recognize his goal, which is moving forward and bringing change to the country. The use of antithesis in President Kennedy’s speech reveals his desire for change, “Symbolizing and end as well as a beginning” (Kennedy 462). His contrast between an end as well as a beginning marks his presidency by describing that He uses words such as poverty, rich, young, old, freedom, devotion, loyalty, and sacrifice. He doesn’t just focus on a certain group he focuses on reaching out to everyone and making them feel as if they belong in this dream. By the use of these words he gives off a welcoming feeling to all the different types of groups that they all contribute to what the United States is and will become. “To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right” (Kennedy 463). Everyone has to contribute in helping each other out in order to see a change in the world. The founders of America said that they had to create a constitution because people were selfish it was their natural way of being. President Kennedy was trying to break that judgement by bringing in a new idea that everyone had to work together and that people didn’t have to be selfish. “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich” (Kennedy 463). He describes the consequences of being selfish by explaining that focusing on one group will not bring success in the U.S but bring it down. There are many who are poor and suffering, but a few who are

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