Rhetorical Devices In Selma's Bloody Sunday

In President Obama’s speech on the 50th anniversary of Selma’s Bloody Sunday, he uses several rhetorical devices to drive his message that Selma had a huge impact on the Civil Rights movement. Throughout his speech he carefully executes several rhetorical devices such as the cadence his speech is in, imagery, allusions to the bible, and pathos. President Obama begins his speech describing what John Lewis encountered that day, the day of Selma. He describes the atmosphere as “thick with doubt, anticipation, and fear.” Using such descriptive words provides the audience with vivid imagery that can help the audience feel like they’re more personally involved in the situation being discussed. Later he again uses vivid imagery to pull out the emotion from people, “men and women who despite the gush of blood and splintered bone would stay true to their North Star and keep marching towards justice.” A common theme throughout the speech is being united, and what the idea of America is. He discusses that the people that are part of minority …show more content…
While dealing with the detrimental amount of disrespect, they still kept fighting for their own equality, and President Obama asks “what could be more American…?” What could represent America more than a large group of oppressed individuals standing up for their rights and refusing to allow the government officials, who are no doubt privileged and come from a wealthy background, to halt them from marching for their rights? America is never finished, our society as a whole is self-critical enough that we will constantly evolve the idea of what America