1、Analysis of Obamas speech,Rhetorical setting: Epideictic OratoryEthos: Since the orator is the American president of prestige and knows how to be a trust worthy individual by exhibiting intellengence, good sense ,virtue, and good will, the speech appears to be more powerful and convincing than a com
2、mon peoples address.,paragraph one,Were here to memorialize 29 Americans: Carl Acord. Jason Atkins. Christopher Bell. Gregory Steven Brock. Kenneth Allan Chapman. Robert Clark. Charles Timothy Davis. Cory Davis. Michael Lee Elswick. William I. Griffith. Steven Harrah. Edward Dean Jones. Richard K. L
3、ane. William Roosevelt Lynch. Nicholas Darrell McCroskey. Joe Marcum. Ronald Lee Maynor. James E. Mooney. Adam Keith Morgan. Rex L. Mullins. Joshua S. Napper. Howard D. Payne. Dillard Earl Persinger. Joel R. Price. Deward Scott. Gary Quarles. Grover Dale Skeens. Benny Willingham. And Ricky Workman.,
4、Analysis: In this part, there is only one sentence where speaker makes a list of the names of victims. According to the way that calling their names one by one, the speaker show sympathy and sadness which corresponds with the feelings of audience.Undoubetedly, this device makes the relationship betw
5、een the speaker and audience closer immediately. Hence, it is pathos that is used here by speaker.,paragraph two,nothing we say can fill the hole they leave in your hearts, or the absence that they leave in your lives.,Analysis: As for figures of speech, the speaker uses a metopher in the sentence.
6、The word “hole“ actually implies the sadness of people. Undoubtedly, this device makes the language more vivid and convictive.,If any comfort can be found, it can, perhaps, be found by seeking the face of God - (applause) - who quiets our troubled minds, a God who mends our broken hearts, a God who
7、eases our mourning souls.,Analysis:As for style, the speaker uses a parallelism in the sentence, which enhances the emotion of the speaker and the power of the sentence. There is no doubt that the parallelism indicates how sad the people is when they loose these miners.,paragraph three,Even as we mo
8、urn 29 lives lost, we also remember 29 lives lived.,Analysis: As for figures of speech, the speaker uses a oxymoron in the sentence. The word “mourm“ is opposite to the word “ remember“, and the word “lost“ is opposite to the word the word “lived“. In the sentence, the speaker shows how respectable
9、the miners are although they past away.,paragraph four,Analysis:In this part, the speaker sates the contributions that miners made, according to first-person point of view.Undoubtedly, it makes the relationship between speaker and audience closer. Therefore, pathos is used here.,Day after day, they
10、would burrow into the coal, the fruits of their labor, what so often we take for granted: the electricity that lights up a convention center; that lights up our church or our home, our school, our office; the energy that powers our country; the energy that powers the world.,Paragraph five,And most d
11、ays theyd emerge from the dark mine, squinting at the light. Most days, theyd emerge, sweaty and dirty and dusted from coal. Most days, theyd come home.Analysis:Figures of speech, it uses parallelism to increase the sense of rhythm and rhyme beauty and emphasize the miners hard. This vivid descripti
12、on causes human emotions, so it is pathos.,Paragraph six,Some of them had already been injured; some of them had seen a friend get hurt.So they understood there were risks .Analysis: Figures of speech, It uses anaphora(句首重复) to strengthen the audiences impression on the miners. From “so“, we know it
13、 is Logos. These sentences show logic.,They knew their kids would say a prayer at night before they left. They knew their wives would wait for a call when their shift ended saying everything was okay. They knew their parents felt a pang of fear every time a breaking news alert came on, or the radio
14、cut in.“Analysis:Figures of speech, this part uses parallelism to increase the sense of rhythm and rhyme beauty and emphasize the risks of the miners work. It also highlights the miners greatness and causes the audience emotion, so it is pathos.,Paragraph seven,All that hard work, all that hardship,
15、 all the time spent underground, it was all for the families. It was all for you.Analysis: Figures of speech, this part uses anaphora and climax. The former shows the miners hard for their work and strengthen the audience impression. The latter deepens the audience feeling gradually, so it also belo
16、ng to pathos.,And so these miners lived - as they died - in pursuit of the American Dream.“Analysis: Figures of speech, it uses oxymoron in this part. The speaker want the audience pay attention to it. Then they remember those miners.,Paragraph eight,they became a family themselves - sharing birthda
17、ys, relaxing together, watching Mountaineers football or basketball together, spending days off together, hunting or fishing. Analysis:Figures of speech, it uses epistrophe to show the logic. It also increase the sense of rhythm and rhyme beauty. This part highlights the miners unity. They loved doi
18、ng it as a family. They loved doing it as a community.Analysis: Figures of speech, It uses anaphora to increase the sense of rhythm and rhyme beauty. It uses climax between “family“ and “community“ to show the miners unity.,paragrhph nine,Its the song, Lean on Me - an anthem of friendship, but also
19、an anthem of community, of coming together.Analysis:the use of “anthem“ is mataphor,which shows the song written by the coal miners son is a praise of friendship and unity. From “ friendship“ to “community“, what the song praises become deeper and deeper. Here the speaker uses climax to enhance the
20、degree.,paragraph 10,That community was revealed for all to see in the minutes, and hours, and days after the tragedy.Analysis: in this sentence the speaker uses climax from the aspect of time to emphasize the long period the coal miners families guard their ralatives and help each other.Rescuers, r
21、isking their own safety, scouring narrow tunnels saturated with methane and carbon monoxide, hoping against hope they might find a survivor. Friends keeping porch lights on in a nightly vigil; hanging up homemade signs that read, “Pray for our miners, and their families.“ Neighbors consoling each ot
22、her, and supporting each other and leaning on one another. Analysis:the use of present participle of these verbs is parallel,which emphasizs the hardship of searching for the survivors and endless hope and strong support people give to each other.,paragraph 11,In the days that followed the disaster,
23、 emails and letters poured into the White House.Analysis:the speaker uses “pour into” to stress the numerous number of emails and letters in order to show the concern people from all over the country give to the coal miners and their families. Here the use of “pour into“ is metaphor.I am proud to be
24、 from a family of miners. I am the son of a coal miner. I am proud to be a coal miners daughter.“Analysis: here the speaker picks some words from those coal miners relatives and thus speaks in the position of them. This makes the relationship between the speaker and the audiences much closer. Here a
25、naphora(句首重复）is used. These sentences show many coal miners relatives feel proud of them.,They were always proud, and they asked me to keep our miners in my thoughts, in my prayers. Never forget, they say, miners keep Americas lights on. Analysis: the use of “my“ and “our“ is pathos, from which the
26、speaker expresses his sympathy together with the audiences for the dead, and thus natually envokes the common feelings with the audience.,And then in these letters, they make a simple plea: Dont let this happen again. (Applause.) Dontt let this happen again.How can we fail them? How can a nation tha
27、t relies on its miners not do everything in its power to protect them? How can we let anyone in this country put their lives at risk by simply showing up to work; by simply pursuing the American Dream?,paragraph 12,In the very beginning of this paragraph, the orator used “a simple plea“ to refer to
28、the request or the repition of bereaved families. The understatement rhetorical device also shows a sign of pathos, which puts the audience in the frame of mind that they are generous and considerate in front of such a huge disaster. Thus, the following plea wins the applause of people. The petition
29、 of the plea shows the,sadness and the helpless cry of the people, which is another pathos to indicate that the president is really sorry for their sadness and stands by their side.,In the following sentences, we wont miss to see that there are three rhetorical questions start with “ How can“. They
30、are deep self-accusations on behalf of the government and the nation. Its also a Pathos, which puts the whole country with the bereaved families together. They also use the devices of parallelism and repitition by virtue of “How can“ and “by simply“ to reinforce the emotion.,paragraph 13,We cannot b
31、ring back the 29 men we lost. They are with the Lord now. Our task, here on Earth, is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy; to do what must do, individually and collectively, to assure safe conditions underground (applause) to treat our miners like they treat each other like a famil
32、y. (Applause.) Because we are all family and we are all Americans. (Applause.) And we have to lean on one another, and look out for one another, and love one another, and pray for one another.,There is a enthymeme here in this paragraph. The major premise is the first two sentence, which definitivel
33、y declare the death of the 29 coal miners. The conclusion may be that these miners can not join the people to implement the “task“. The minor premise, which was omitted, may be that the dead miners can no longer be on Earth and do anything.,The parallelism structure about the “task“ starts with “to
34、do“ and reveals that the government has already known the harm of disaster and was determined to take appropriate measures to protect lives and to reduce disaster and damage. These are promises for all people alive. The repitition of “ and “and “we are“ show a sign of pathos which aim at uniting peo
35、ple to face this disaster. The repitition of “one another“ shows not only the aim above but also the wish that people should help each other.All these were done to cater to peoples emotional appeal. It definitly is a use of pathos.,paragraph 14,Theres a psalm that comes to mind today - a psalm that
36、comes to mind, a psalm we often turn to in times of heartache. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”God bless our miners. (Applause.) God bless their families. God bless West Virginia. (Appl
37、ause.) And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)Its a use of repitition when refer to “a psalm“ , and “ the valley of the shadow of death“ is a metophor, which compares the dificulties and disasters in the road of life as the valley of the shadow of death. The repitition of “ God bless
38、.“ caters to the peoples wish. People all believe in God and wish that they will be blessed. It also shows a trace of pathos here.Among the things should be blessed, from “our miners“ to “the United States of America“, there obveriously is a use of climax. The president hope that all is well in Amer
39、ica.,From the analysis above, we can see that the president has applied many rhetorical trategies based on Aristotles “Three Artistic Proofs“-ethos, pathos and logos to highlight the spirit of self-sacrifice of the dead miners and praise the generosity of the bereaved families and reinforcefthe raternal love between American people. The president successfully achieve ones aim through his persuisive speech, which has mourned for the dead miners, comforted the their families and relatives, and united all the people in America.,Conclusion,THANK YOU,
