Literary Devices In President Bill Clinton's Speech

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A domestic terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City on April 19th, 1995, killed 168 people (including small children) and injuring more than 680 others. Four days later, on April 23rd, 1995, President Bill Clinton gave a speech addressing this event at the Memorial Prayer Service. Clinton speaks to everyone affected from the bombing to unite the country in this feeling of tragedy, and to show the victims, and their families, that they are not alone. In his speech, President Bill Clinton uses pathos to unite the country in a feeling of tragedy and loss. This bombing took the lives of many innocent Americans, including those of children, and President Clinton wants to emphasize the magnitude of this tragedy, bringing everyone together. “This terrible …show more content…

“To all my fellow Americans beyond this hall, I say, one thing we owe those who have sacrificed is the duty to purge ourselves of the dark forces which gave rise to this evil. They are forces that threaten our common peace, our freedom, our way of life. Let us teach our children that the God of comfort is also the God of righteousness: Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind. Justice will prevail.” Clinton uses an avenging to tone against the evil that committed this mass tragedy. He establishes that he believes evil is responsible for the victims deaths. He suggests that God and justice will make this right to the families of every victim, and that their lives/deaths mean something. Clinton has various uses of repetition in his speech. “That’s God’s work.” The repetition of God emphasizes that there is an “almighty being” that is there with the victims, the families, and everyone in the nation; and He is standing next to them, side by side. He (Clinton) suggests that we shouldn’t lose hope and faith because God is there with us. He wants us to know that we are safe and God is helping us to make it through this tragedy. President Bill