The Rhetorical Analysis Of Alfred M. Green

Alfred M. Green’s influential speech attempts to persuade his fellow African Americans to join the efforts of the Union during the Civil War. Even though the participation of African Americans in the war was unheard of, Green stresses the importance of uniting African Americans by beginning with parallelism and a metaphor, transitions to a cumulative sentence and emotional appeal, and ends with a metaphor and emotional appeal, thus relaying the main theme of slavery abolition.
Green introduces tremendous patriotism and gratitude to the United States, with the assistance of parallelism and a metaphor. Green commences his speech with, “of a race in…of freedom, and of civil and religious toleration.” By embedding parallelism within his speech, …show more content…
He presents yet another introduction, “It is true that our injuries in many respects are great...” The use of a cumulative sentence in this context expedites the main point in the entrance of the sentence and inundates the audience with a plethora of details to follow. The speaker entraps several salient references within the sentence to steer the audience towards opening their minds to significant prejudice that has always been directed toward African Americans. The author evokes a sense of invigoration and geniality when addressing such issues, in order to enable the audience to feel an inner strength. With a renewed sense of courage, the audience is enticed to join the cause. Next, Green describes, “to create within us that burning zeal and enthusiasm.” This provokes feelings of vigor, which overwhelms the audience’s opinions, further persuading them to the speaker’s perspective. This expression also displays the underlying tone of compassion, giving the letter more structural shape, which conveys a constant mood recognized by the audience. Upon hearing this, the audience feels compelled to assist Green in whatever ways necessary, to achieve one unified goal for all, the abolition of