With a clever use of schemes and energizing use of tropes, President John F. Kennedy creates an inspiring and unifying tone that, through effective organization and appeals to pathos, conveys the purpose of his inaugural address to the engaged American public. Kennedy, being well known for his captivating appeals to pathos, uses this strength to carefully craft several aspects of his speech including the word choice and tone. To invigorate his audience and capture their attention, the president strategically organizes his speech in a way that it first fills the listeners with pride to be Americans and second addresses the more serious and action-taking matters that the audience would be more likely to carry out once patriotism was practically
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In the second paragraph, he alludes to Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address when he says “nearly a century and three-quarters ago.” Although this isn’t an exact correlation to Lincoln, the slightly over complicated way of expressing time makes one think of Lincoln and his address. Next, Kennedy incorporates zeugma in paragraph 23 when he says “Now the trumpet summons us again – not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need… but a call to bear the burden…” The word “bear” in this quote addresses two things: to bear arms and to bear the burden. In the context of the speech, bear governs the actions of self-defense and taking responsibility, but is only directly referring to bearing the burden. Kennedy creates strong imagery when, in the third paragraph, he states “For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and human life.” This sentence is bittersweet, as it acknowledges the ability of man to end all suffering on earth, but at the same time, man is just as close to obliterating the entire human race. This statement most likely made the audience of Kennedy’s speech seriously contemplate how dangerously powerful humans really are. As can be seen, Kennedy uses many rhetorical devices that haven’t been highlighted in this
In the second paragraph, he alludes to Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address when he says “nearly a century and three-quarters ago.” Although this isn’t an exact correlation to Lincoln, the slightly over complicated way of expressing time makes one think of Lincoln and his address. Next, Kennedy incorporates zeugma in paragraph 23 when he says “Now the trumpet summons us again – not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need… but a call to bear the burden…” The word “bear” in this quote addresses two things: to bear arms and to bear the burden. In the context of the speech, bear governs the actions of self-defense and taking responsibility, but is only directly referring to bearing the burden. Kennedy creates strong imagery when, in the third paragraph, he states “For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and human life.” This sentence is bittersweet, as it acknowledges the ability of man to end all suffering on earth, but at the same time, man is just as close to obliterating the entire human race. This statement most likely made the audience of Kennedy’s speech seriously contemplate how dangerously powerful humans really are. As can be seen, Kennedy uses many rhetorical devices that haven’t been highlighted in this