Great Speech: A Whisper On AIDS

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Great Speech Analysis: A whisper on AIDS AIDS Activist, Mary Fisher, gave her touching speech, “A Whisper of AIDS” (1992) demanding the Republican Party to take a stand and support research for the treatments of the deadly disease. She supports her thesis through ethos, pathos, and repetition. Mary’s purpose is to affect the Republican party in an emotional way in order to fulfill her desire for more research. Mary Fisher is addressing the Republican Party, but also the Democratic Party at the same time explaining that anyone can get AIDS no matter who they are, or what group they belong to. Mary Fisher was born April 6, 1948 in Louisville Kentucky. After school and college, Mary was offered a job working on President Gerald R Ford’s team, as the first female advance man. In 1977 she married her first husband, which didn’t last long. Seven years after her divorce, she sought treatment for alcoholism. In treatment she realized that she was a pretty good artist. In 1987 she married Brian Campbell, who was also an artist. They had one son, and then adopted another after they couldn’t have any other children. Then in 1990, Mary and Brian filed for divorce. A year later, Mary found out that Brian was HIV positive, and she had attracted it …show more content…

She uses pathos by talking about her sons, and that they’ll have to live without their mother. The only explanation they’ll have is that AIDS took her life. Nobody tried to save her, but instead let a disease kill her that could have been stopped. Her farewell to her boys is her last and most effective point of the whole speech. People started to listen when she stated that she was dying and her sons wouldn’t have a mother because of her disease. She is now 62, and probably never thought that she would live to this age. That’s the thing about AIDS, it works in different ways and she never knew when it was going to take her life. This is why she pleaded for the Republican Party to take a stand and fight against the AIDS