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Barack Obama Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Rhetorical Analysis Former Illinois State Senator and soon to be Forty-fourth president of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, recounts what happened in the past to make America what is today and how he intends to maintain the ideas of America’s founding fathers throughout his term of presidency. His intended audience of the first inaugural address is the citizens of America and his purpose was to comfort them about the past and encourage the future of America. He creates a patriotic and empowering tone in order to appeal to pathos. His diction throughout the speech illustrates patriotism, allusions, and anaphoras. Obama opens his speech by discussing the views of our forebears and documents and how we have followed through with those views. “We, the people, have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents” (Obama par. 3). He used this in order to explain how we will always pride our ideals of the forebears. This view of patriotism from soon-to-be President Barack Obama made his audience appeal to his …show more content…

“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense. And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken -- you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you” (Obama par. 21). We will never back down to enemies; we will, in fact, beat you. Obama used anaphoras in his speech to persuade his audience that “we” are in this together. Furthermore, President Obama’s first inaugural speech contained patriotism, allusions, and anaphoras to appeal to the effect of pathos. His diction helps to persuade his audience that he is understanding and emotionally connected to the situation that America has been in and the importance of sticking to the ideas that our founding fathers have implemented thus far in America’s

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