Rhetorical Analysis Of Robert Kennedy's Speech

"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realizing Him," said Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest revolutionary leaders in history. Though some people, like Malcolm X, during the Civil Rights movement did not agree with non-violence, non-violence is always the smartest and safest way of protesting. This is what Robert Kennedy wanted to teach the people with his speech on the day Martin Luther King Jr. died: that violence does not lead anywhere good and that destruction, separation, and chaos are not the way to proceed. "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness." Robert Kennedy warns his audience that violence, hatred, and division are not the key to success for the country, but in fact, the things the country should avoid now and always in hard and normal times. He uses the rhetorical device of repetition to make sure that people understood what they needed to do to make the country succeed. As he later says in his speech, "We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times …show more content…
He used especial words to make the reader, or listener in this case, to picture certain special images, also known as imagery. "To tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world." He speaks about staying peaceful to allow a smoother journey of life, which is not possible when implying violence. He also pictures quite an image when he says, "to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across out land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love." In context, Kennedy asked his audience to follow Martin Luther King Jr.'s footsteps, but doing so, he also made a graphical view of what Martin Luther King wanted to remove. The use of words in that sentence allows the reader to understand better King's