Barack Obama's Speech: The Audacity Of Hope

Improved Essays
Hope is more than a word and more than an idea. It is a state of being that is not limited to one person. It is undefinable because it fits in so many categories. Barack Obama uses hope as a main idea for his 2004 Keynote Address speech for the democratic party. This speech is thought to be one of his greatest speeches and even inspired him to write a book called The Audacity of Hope. Throughout The 2004 Keynote Address, Barack Obama uses multiple devices to sway voters to chose John Kerry as president, these devices include, anaphora, vivid imagery, as well as dramatic sentence structure. During his speech, Obama uses anaphora to help illustrate Kerry’s goals as well as why Kerry should be president. An example of this is when Obama starts

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    President Obama’s speech is t extually rich with rhetorical devices and engaging writing, but perhaps of even more significance is the context in which he gave this speech. Mr. Obama was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and at the time campaigning to become a US Senator. Perhaps the most important aspect of this setting is that this highly politicized speech was given to an audience of, generally, like- minded people. Mr. Obama’s more recent speeches are often written so as to not wholly offend the opposing party, or sometimes even his own, but in this case he was unabashedly liberal and advocating the election of Senator John Kerry as President. Additionally, Mr. Obama references many topics that were more commonly debated in 2004 than in 2013, but also some that remain relevant.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hope is one of the most powerful things in the world, and is crucial to survival. Without hope, all is lost as you have no desire left to live. Hope is what creates that desire for survival. That is to say, that if one had no hope, one would not want to survive, and therefore would perish. Any type of hope can help a person survive, even if that hope happens to be false.…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While President Obama is giving his speech at Michigan’s graduation ceremony he starts off by trying to relate to the American people by having to do normal everyday things like commuting in traffic. Obama also wants to connect with the American public by telling them that he reads their letters every day to show them that he is a part of them and not in control of them. He has a progressive mentality when opening up his speech. He is reaching out to the hearts and minds of the average person by telling a heartwarming story about a kid in kindergarten and asking him if people are nice to him. When Obama says “there are some things that we can only do together, as a nation- and that our government must keep pace with the times” I believe that…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the eulogy for the honorable reverend Clementa Pinckney, President Obama shows us the good use of the rhetorical analysis. In this analysis of the speech I will be discussing the use of ethos, pathos, logos. Obama starts the speech showing us that there is an emotional connection between him and his audience, this creates pathos. Obama adds “scripture tells us,” this part makes him credible for the audience because he is talking to people in a church and he brought a citation from the bible. Then in the next paragraph he starts saying about how good of a person Clem was and this created an increase in the affection of the people to the reverend.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    On November 4, 2008, we listen and saw the most iconic moment in history. Which was to hear Barack Obama's "Victory Speech" that took place in Grant Park, Chicago. This iconic speech took place in front of his supporters, voters, and family. Which Barack Obama was delivering because he had just been elected to become the president of the United States. It was more significant that Obama had succeed because he would be our 1st African American president that understood what it means to work from the bottom up till you reach your goals.…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama's Inaugural Speech

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited

    In the beginning of the speech President Obama said, “My fellow citizens” (Jan, 2009). An emotional image was drawn in the citizen mind that the president has goals and aims in common. Goals and aims that helping to solve the current problems that most of the citizens had. Also, the president used through his speech we to connect himself the public and he stands as citizen like them. Moreover, President Obama proved how American citizens able to change and he provided an example of himself when he said “why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served in a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath” (2009).…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obamas speech was calculated and structured with many rhetorical strategies playing to his favor, so that his overall message was easily communicated, and both viewers and possible voters were able to understand and connect with his ideas. Two rhetorical strategies that seemed to aide his speech the most were the use of pathos and repetition. His reasoning for choosing these were probably due to the fact that this was his first speech as an official presidential candidate, and he wanted to be persuasive and precise on exactly what the forefront of his campaign was about and what he plans to do if elected. Where pathos appeals to ones emotion, it allows for a connection on a more personal level, which ultimately would further a greater sense of purpose or reason to get involved in what could be done. Obama said, “Beneath all the differences of race…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The language style is emotional and motivating, because he uses pathos and ethos to achieve. He uses the pronouns “we” and “our” a lot, which gives the audience a sense of inclusiveness. It gives them the feeling that the speaker, Barack Obama, and the people aren’t so different, and that feeling gives the audience an unconsciously pride, and that makes them start to admire him and take his side. The analysis reveals that Obama uses the elements of Ethos and Pathos in his speech quite frequently. This could be, because he was very interested in motivating and persuading people by appealing to their emotions instead of their intellect, as it is easier to persuade people emotionally, at least in this context.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Democratic National Committee invited Barack Obama to give the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention. This news came as a surprise as Obama had not yet gained national attention, and was not an obvious choice when compared to other candidates. After his inspiring speech however, Obama became well known throughout America which was good news for John Kerry, as Obama’s speech was intended to persuade voters to support Kerry as president. Obama uses rhetorical devices such as climax in structure, epistrophe, and metonymy to persuade skeptical voters to vote for John Kerry as their next president. Obama makes his speech more convincing by using climax to split his speech into multiple sections; the first section is used…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    What does hope mean? Hope is an optimistic attitude of mind based on expectation of positive outcome related to the events and circumstances in one 's life or the world at large. The theme of hope is vastly displayed in the three novels; “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Old man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway and “Blindness” by Jose Saramago. In this peice symbols will be used to represent hope in the 3 novels in different ways.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign he addressed a live audience in New Hampshire. His ‘Yes We Can’ speech was acknowledged as a rhetorical masterpiece and one of the greatest political presentations. Obama used a variety of verbal and nonverbal techniques to persuade voters that he could guide a positive and enduring change. Verbal techniques such as repetition, anaphora, pronouns and the rule of threes aided his portrayal of a prospering America under his leadership. Nonverbal techniques including eye contact, facial expressions, hand gestures and pace and tone reinforced his ability to connect with an audience.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    On September 6, 2012, President Barack Obama used ethos and pathos in his Democratic Nomination Acceptance Address to deceive his audience into voting for him. Through pathos, Barack Obama targets families struggling to pay for necessities like a home or schooling, parents who have a child in college, and students with dreams who have a low chance of succeeding due to financial situation or legal status, into voting for him. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience of an argument by creating an emotional response. In this specific part of the speech, Barack Obama begins to talk about why he ran for president. He begins talking about jobs and how they were moving overseas and families who had no money to pay anything,…

    • 1000 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Audacity of Hope Rhetorical Analysis "My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of Earth" - Abe Lincoln. Since it 's early beginnings, America has been a place of hope, and that standard is carried on through a speech, given by Senator Barrack Obama, called The Audacity of Hope. Obama gave this speech as the Keynote address for the 2004 Democratic National Convention. At the time, Democrat John Kerry was running for president against Republican George Bush.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obama’s Farewell Address, was his final speech as President. Obama’s purpose of his Farewell Address was a way for him to say goodbye and to thank the American citizens but to also remind the citizens about all the improvements he made and how it should be continued. In order, to get his message across to the American citizens he used two of Aristotle’s modes of persuasion such as, pathos and logos. Obama used the genre pathos to invoke emotions from the audience in order for them to feel apart of the speech and he used logos to remind the citizens of his improvements and persuade them to continue his changes without his Presidency.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the following, Barack Obama´s victory speech, which was held in November 2012 after being re-elected as President of the United States of America, will be analysed. Generally, one can say that Obama sends a message of shared values and hopes by using rhetorical devices and structuring his line of arguments in a way that establishes a connection and a feeling of togetherness and involvement in his actions in the audience, for example by the usage of pronouns like “we”. Now, a closer look will be taken at the line of argument.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays