Rhetorical Analysis Of Mary Fisher's Speech

829 Words2 Pages

“This is not a distant threat. It is a present danger,” said political activist, Mary Fisher in her speech, on HIV/AIDS. The speech was presented at the 1992 Republican National Convention Address, in Houston, TX, and suggests for people to speak up and support those affected by HIV. Diagnosis of HIV were at all time high during this time, 1992-1993(HIV and AIDS). Much of the public was not aware of many of the aspects of HIV therefore, awareness needed to be brought on the topic. Fisher develops her plea by first providing compelling data, then building her credibility, and finally using an emotional appeal. Her purpose is to shed light on the issue of HIV to inspire people to speak up. She creates an informative and sympathetic tone for those ignorant to the struggles of the HIV community.
Mary Fisher uses compelling data to emphasize the major impact that HIV/AIDS is creating. …show more content…

Mary Fisher sheds light on the different situations people are in due to HIV- “I am one with a black infant struggling with tubes in a Philadelphia hospital.” In doing so, she creates an atmosphere where you feel sorry for the innocent baby that has no clue what he/she is going through with HIV. Fisher said, “It does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican...black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old,” and acknowledges the fact that HIV can affect anyone. Many people, especially the young adults, had a mindset that they would not be affected by HIV. With this quote, she gets the audience thinking that they are not safe by any means and the only way to prevent becoming infected is to inform themselves. Another form of emotional appeal, used by Fisher, is by questioning the morals of her audience. She said, “we must act as eloquently as we speak -- else we have no integrity.” She wants people to not just say things to sound supportive but instead to act based on their

Show More
Related

  • The Crucible Witch Hunt Essay

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even after the disease and its modes of transmission had been correctly identified, fear and ignorance remained widespread. In the mid 1980s, “AIDS hysteria” became a well known term in the media and public life. For example, a magazine published details about how extensive AIDS/HIV related discrimination became. “Anxiety over AIDS in some parts of the U.S. is verging on hysteria,” the authors wrote; they later published this disturbing example:

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of David Mccullough's Speech

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” This mantra from Margaret Mead is a somewhat humorous yet slightly satirical spin on how people tend to think of themselves as one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable human specimens. However, one English teacher from Wellesley High School takes this critique one step further with his polemic presentation at the school commencement. David McCullough, a Massachusetts English teacher, gave a seemingly somber sendoff to his graduates in 2012, with a speech that contained some unapologetically harsh sentiments. However, by looking past the outwardly dismal surface of the speech, the students can infer a more optimistic message. By incorporating devices of asyndeton, paradox, antimetabole, and anadiplosis, McCullough conveys to each student that even though none of them is unique, their commonality is not a fault they all have merit and should strive to view the world through a more selfless lens.

    Read More

  • Hillary Clinton Speech Rhetorical Analysis

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    On September 5, 1995 Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a speech to the United Nations 4th World Conference during a Women Plenary Session, located in Beijing, China. Clinton spoke about how women around the world were not treated equally, how women rights should be equal to human rights, and the ghastly abuse and discrimination women faced around the world. The reason for the conference was to strengthen women, families, and societies in order to empower women to taking control of their lives and not be subject to such discrimination. She emphasized how education, health care, jobs, and political rights were not equal between genders and that the world needed to change. Clinton gave a very convincing speech because of her use of rhetorical techniques. The use of pathos, ethos, logos, and anaphora created a powerful, persuasive argument against the way women were treated around the world. Clintons main goal of this speech was to appeal to the audience and convince them that this is unequal treatment is an immense matter and needs to be addressed all over the world.

    Read More

  • Florence Kelley Rhetorical Analysis

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    Samir Boussarhane During the early 20th century in the U.S, most children of the lower and middle class were workers. These children worked long, dangerous shifts that even an adult would find tiresome. On July 22, 1905, at a convention of the National Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia, Florence Kelley gave a famous speech regarding the extraneous child labor of the time. Kelley’s argument was to add laws to help the workers or abolish the practice completely.

    Read More

  • Florence Kelley: Championing Against Child Labor

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the fight for equal and just treatment for both women and children was one of the most historically prominent movements in America. Courageous women everywhere fought, protested and petitioned with the hope that they would achieve equal rights and better treatment for all, especially children. One of these women is known as Florence Kelley. On July 22, 1905, Kelley made her mark on the nation when she delivered a speech before the National American Woman Suffrage Association, raising awareness of the cruel truth of the severity behind child labor through the use of repetition, imagery and oxymorons.

    Read More

  • Florence Kelley Rhetorical Analysis

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    Florence Kelley was a social and political reformer that fought for woman’s suffrage and child labor laws. Her speech to the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association initiated a call to action for the reform of child labor laws. She explains how young children worked long and exhausting hours during the night and how despicable these work conditions were. Kelley’s use of ethos, logos, pathos, and repetition helps her establish her argument for the reform of the child labor laws.

    Read More

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Mary Ann Shadd Cary

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the era of American slavery, the rights of the colored were denied under authoritative rules, such as the Fugitive Slave Act that required the retrieval of all runaway slaves. It was during this time, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, an African American living in Canada, felt the need to combat racial injustice by voicing her opinions on the newspaper Provincial Freeman. In her second issue of the newspaper, she argued the need to continue her editorials is to promote the antislavery cause by embedding repetition to unify her targeted audience and by approaching her audience with a cautious tone to build on more support.

    Read More

  • Exploring HIV Epidemic Causes in Sub-Saharan Africa

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    The HIV epidemic hits nowhere else in the world harder than Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the entire world’s cases of HIV. In her book, “The Invisible Cure”, writer Helen Epstein explores the myriad of reasons as to why the HIV outbreak is so alarming as well as differentiated than any other area of the world. Epstein explores how cultural factors influence individual behaviors as well as generations that grow up under these cultural conditions, how political involvement (or lack thereof) can often misinform people, and how structural levels of privilege allows less opportunity for those in poverty to obtain the help that they may need.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Techniques Used In Florence Kelley's Speech

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    Florence Kelley appeals to the masses that the conscription of unregulated child labor is abhorring through the use of ethos, juxtaposition, and pathos. Kelley’s speech tackles on one of her main goals in life, regulations on child labor. Her speech moved the masses to fight for the rights of children, and she won. Kelley is responsible for the safe working conditions and the child labor laws that the United States has in implementation today.

    Read More

  • Elizabeth Glaser's Speech

    432 Words  | 1 Pages

    When Elizabeth Glaser had children, she never imagined the immense heartbreak and emotional distress it would cause both herself and the children. She hemorrhaged during the first birth and was transferred with blood containing the AIDS virus. Unknowingly, she gave it to her daughter, and later, her son. Glaser was a well-known, upper class, white woman, so her contraction of this disease shocked people and gave the disease a new wave of media during a time when the government was trying to push the issue under the table. At the Democratic Convention, Glaser made a speech, detailing her struggles with the virus - it was the push many people needed to finally rally and take action against it.

    Read More

  • The Power of Angels in America

    2550 Words  | 6 Pages

    "Demanding that life near AIDS is an inextricably other reality denies our ability to recreate a sustaining culture and social structures, even as we are daily required to devote such time to the details of the AIDS crisis." -Cindy Patton

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Florence Kelley's Speech

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poor, young children being forced to work nearly 24 hours day is a terrible evil that is no longer necessary in the 21st century, thanks to those willing to fight against it. One of those people was lover of freedom Florence Kelley. At the National American Woman Association on July 22, 1905, she gave a speech urging the women to ally with “workingmen”, ln 89, to vote against unfair child labor laws. In her speech, Kelley uses appeals to empathy, sympathy, logic, ethos, repetition, word choice, tone, and current events to defend her case.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Speech Of Miss Polly Baker

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    In, “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker” written by Benjamin Franklin (one of the Founding Fathers) in 1747, brought up the disparities that were between men and women within the judicial system. Also, “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker” also briefly points out, how religion has been intertwined with politics. All throughout “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” Benjamin Franklin uses very intense diction and syntax to help support what he is trying to express to the rest of society. Also writing this speech in the view point of a women, greatly helps establish what he is trying to say. If Benjamin Franklin was to write it as a man, the speech my have not had the same passionate effect as it currently has.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Mary Fisher's Speech, A Whisper of Aids

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the time when the general public believes the only way to contract HIV/AIDS is to be homosexual, an addict, or prostitute, Fisher being a white, heterosexual, married mother of two from an upper-class family who contracted the virus from her husband is herself the certifying ethos of this speech (1). She tactfully uses her own circumstances and diagnosis to embody the plight of all in the AIDS community and shows that no one is exempt from this deadly disease. She emphatically states that HIV does not care about race, age, gender, sexual orientation, or political affiliation; all that it asks is “Are you human?” (2). She ceases to be the exception and gains the attention and respect of the American people when she aligns herself with others with HIV/AIDS with her statement:

    Read More

  • The Stigma of HIV/ AIDS

    2443 Words  | 5 Pages

    From the moment scientists identified HIV and AIDS, social responses of fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the epidemic. Discrimination has spread rapidly, fuelling anxiety and prejudice against the groups most affected, as well as those living with HIV or AIDS. It goes without saying that HIV and AIDS are as much about social phenomena as they are about biological and medical concerns. Across the world the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has shown itself capable of triggering responses of compassion, solidarity and support, bringing out the best in people, their families and communities. But the disease is also associated with stigma, repression and discrimination, as individuals affected (or believed to be affected) by HIV have been rejected by their families, their loved ones and their communities. This rejection holds as true in the rich countries of the north as it does in the poorer countries of the south.

    Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Mary Fisher's Speech

Open Document