Rhetorical Techniques Used In Leonard Pitts Dear Michelle Obama

Eight years ago, history was made in the United States. Barack Obama was the first African American to be elected, a landmark decision that forever marked his legacy, with first lady Michelle Obama at his side. The results of a new election have ignited even more hate than the previous one, and division in society is only getting more heated. Some people believe racism in modern society is non existent, and others believe racism is tearing this society apart. In his column “Dear Michelle Obama,” Leonard Pitts takes the stance of the latter and uses rhetorical strategies such as syntax, diction, and humor to express his admiration for Michelle Obama and his contempt for racist bigotry. Throughout the column, Pitts uses a variety of sentence …show more content…
His structure creates the rhythm and flow while his diction adds a poetic quality that makes all the elements unify. However, in paragraph 10, he suddenly breaks the unity by shifting his tone with the line, “racial denigration from ugly, stupid people.” The break this line creates due to the unexpected harsh diction is quickly brought back together in the next paragraph, line 2, “They watch even now in acquiescent silence.” Alliteration is subtly but effectively used in the phrase “acquiescent silence” to bring back the flow in the article. Later, Pitts is able to tie together his central idea, which is especially conveyed through his usage of anaphora in paragraph 13. He repeats the phrase “too many” to communicate that there are too many ignorant and bigoted people in the nation to allow the issue of racism to be addressed properly. Pitts wants Americans—specifically blacks and whites—to be unified, but he understands that this cannot happen unless each group recognizes racism as a problem that is still prevalent in modern society. By utilizing diction to both break apart and unify his piece, Pitts is able to express this desire through his