Rhetorical Devices In Kennedy's Inaugural Address

In January of 1961, John F. Kennedy was elected to be the president of the United States. He expressed his ambition and pride for the future of the American people and the people across the globe as well. The audiecmce is feeling hopeful and thought provoked by Kennedy with his appeal to logic and emotion throughout his address. He calls to action the American pwople on many topics furthering his expression of pride. The purpose of his address was to renew the American spirit and bring about a collective unity among America while he is in office. John F. Kennedy smartly uses his inauguration into the presidential office to stand before American citizens, Mexico, and people across the globe to profess to them that he will “…begin anew…” (Kennedy 220) during his presidency to help “restart” America with the help of his listeners and those he addressed. In Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, he establishes a key tone of …show more content…
Strong emotion is evoked when Kennedy suggests that a metaphorical “…trumpet summons (them)…” to “bear the burden of a long twilight struggle” (Kennedy 220). Kennedy is comparing a trumpet to his listeners’ hearts. Meaning our hearts are summoning us to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle. He is comparing a ling twilight struggle to bring to the fore front the many years America has struggled to be a great country. Kennedy uses the words ‘burden’ and ‘bear’ and ‘struggle’ get into our emotional side so America realizes what our country really has been going thorugh and to prove that the time is now to bear the long struggle America has been in order to improve it. He utilizes diction to asses a call to action amongst his listeners through the use of words such as eradicate, explore, conquer, tap, and encourage. His emotional appeal correlates with his use of dicition because he does so to get his listeners to better understand his goals and ambitions as a