Passionate John Kerry, a vietnam veteran, in his speech, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement, to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on April 23, 1971, argues that the soldiers sent to Vietnam were told to do terrible things and that they were fighting for reasons they did not even know. Kerry supports his argument by implementing anaphora, utilizing a pronoun switch, applying rhetorical questions, appeals to logos through the use of statistics, quotes, and an anecdote, and appeals to pathos through imagery and powerful language. The author’s purpose is to depict to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations exactly what occurred in Vietnam and why they should be against the war too. The author writes in a belligerent tone for the Senate
Intro: The Vietnam War is one of the most protested wars in American history. Before the end of the war, many gave speeches and rallied against the war crimes that were being committed by American Soldiers in South East Asia. The following paper will use the Pentadic method to critique John F. Kerry’s “Vietnam Veterans Against the War” speech. Through this analysis, it will become apparent that the purpose is the most dominant element in Kerry’s speech, and that John F. Kerry’s speech meets the requirements it requires for an artifact to be considered strongly effective.
“There is at the outset a very obvious... connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America,”(Document E: Martin Luther King, Jr.). During the period of the Vietnam War, division struck the United States due to people’s vast opinions, this caused a rift in the country and began protests. Citizens of the USA did have legitimate reasons to protest the Vietnam War, but not all agreed with that. American citizens had many different reasons to protest the Vietnam War, but the biggest reason was that people were realizing how horrific wars truly were.
Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.
Among the large group of American men to be drafted one of them was Tim O’Brien the author of the short story “The Things They Carried” 3. Aside from the exponential amount of men sent off to war, the Vietnam war already had a bad stigma. There was little public support due to the feeling of fighting and unwinnable war and the amount of men who were dying. In his story, O’Brien portrays this sense
This source is also an extract from the article “The Vietnam War”, under the sub-heading ‘The Antiwar Movement’, which is also written by a serious of anonymous writers. The reason behind the inclusion of the extract, is a matter of proving that not everyone in America itself agreed with the War which meant that many people didn’t agree with the policy of containment to the extent in which it was being imposed on the Vietnamise. Which also give an insight into why America ultimately lost the war and also highlight the importance of media coverage and the vital role it played during the course of the war and changing people perspective about
In a world ridden with war today, it is seemingly impossible for a human not to have an opinion on the violence and anger, being thrown around like an American football on a Sunday. Tim O’Brien, the author of many short stories about the Vietnam War, included many of the important thematic issues, including cowardice, leadership, burdens, judgement, courage, and heroism. Of course, I myself have many views on war. I will discuss why I oppose war, whether or not I would fight in a war, and overall how my opinions on war have evolved throughout our conversations in class these past weeks.
John Kerry utilizes powerful language to combat the depersonalization of the Vietnam War and effectively condemn the actions of the American government. He retains his credibility throughout his speech because he himself is a Vietnam War veteran, and no one knows better than them what really happened. Kerry carefully chooses his words to demonstrate his personal connection to the subject of his speech. He does not shy away from the use of communal language such as the word “we.”
To them, Vietnam was just a small country in the middle of nowhere that posed no threat to the United States or world peace; because of this they moved from “village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost” (O’Brien 1306). However, when the soldiers in this story lost a comrade with nothing to show for it, everything became pointless. A study showed that there are “strong associations between combat loss and psychological maladjustment in analysis of NVVRS ” (Currier). This is seen in “The Things They Carried”
On April 4, 1967 Doctor Martin Luther King Jr gave the speech, “Beyond Vietnam-A time to Break Silence.” In this powerful speech Dr. King addresses his followers, and explains why the same people who are advocating for civil rights, should also protest the war in Vietnam. Dr. King’s main appeal is towards pathos because he is explaining his reasons, most of which are moral in some way. Dr. King develops the central claim of the speech by explaining how the war is taking away resources from the poor, how the soldiers are disproportionately poor people, and lastly how the war is completely against his morals. His central claim of the speech revolves around war being an enemy of the poor.
Lurking in the shadows of the infamous Vietnam War is its predecessor, the First Indochina War. Consequently, the comprehension of the innumerable causes of the First Indochina War is essential to the understanding of modern Vietnam. Factors range from French Imperialism to new leadership to Vietnam’s involvement in World War II, and even go as far back as the Paris Peace Conference or Vietnam’s ancient inclination towards revolution. Of these causes the commencement of what historians see as an inevitable war, the omnipresence of Ho Chi Minh’s cult of personality is definitively set apart as most significant, as Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of Vietnam’s independence is seen as the catalyst for the First Indochina War. The persistence of both
Sustained strife sometimes results from a clash amongst opposing world-views. Morality and sense of duty in many cases oppose one another. Due to the high importance placed on values and morals, people generally are unwilling to mediate a conflicting view. Terry Wallace’s book Bloods, gives the reader an intake of 20 African American soldiers, whom have all fought in Vietnam during the war. The book is written post war, and allows the veterans to input their values and views on the war operations they conducted.
The Vietnam War began on November 1, 1955. It was a long and costly conflict that brought the North Vietnamese government into conflict with the South. Many Americans opposed the war which in the long term divided them. However, others believed that defending South Vietnam from communists was in the best interest. In this essay we will discuss how the Vietnam War was protested, why some people protested it, and how poetry was used as an anti-war expression.
The Vietnam war is considered to be one of the most important events in the modern history of the United States and is often referred to as the ‘unwinnable’ war. It still remains in minds of both American policymakers and ordinary citizens as a tragic event that took thousands of lives. Having started as a limited intervention of the United States in the conflict, it outgrew into full-scale war at the peak of which more than half a million American soldiers were fighting in Vietnam. These soldiers and their families later formulated a unique stratum of society that have lost their faith in American government and the rightfulness of its actions abroad. The topic of Vietnam war remains a painful subject for American society and the reasons for
In a time of strong American Values corresponding with the beginning of extensive government doubt, President Lyndon B. Johnson was faced with challenge many had encountered before him. Convincing the American people to hold up weapons is no easy task in itself, and Johnson additionally wished to convince his people to clasp weapons for a war that a multitude believed was not an American fight. In 1965 Johnson spoke at Johns Hopkins University with a speech he called “Peace Without Conquest” to sway the views of his fellow citizens. Throughout the course of his presentation, Johnson appeals to his audience through tapping into the subconscious thoughts of his people, which will likely make him effective in swaying the audience to believe in
