Rhetorical Analysis Of Mr. Milk's Speech

The primary audience in the speech is mainly for the gay community of the nation. Mr. Milk is able to connect with his audience because he too is gay. The primary audience in the letter are those who “criticize” Dr. King, and he confronts his audience as a African American who has been oppressed and will not tolerate it any longer.

The main purpose of the speech is to “give hope” to the gay community, and Mr. Milk does this by explaining how the “right movement” is not really happening as so many think. Instead this is the day and age where more dialouge then ever is cerculationg the homosxual lifestle then ever before, and it is up to those who make up the community to set the example in politics, and show the world where they stand. In the

Milk uses the following rhetorical devices: holy war, logical reasoning, and anaphora. Mr. Milk first uses the holy war rhetoric when he explained that a woman accused the drought in California due to God’s anger of the gay people, but Mr. Milk states that it rained when he was elected and after he was sworn in. Proving that gay people are not the cause of a dreadful weather pattern. Next, he uses logical reasoning where he tells how all of America’s minorities have slowly worked in a representative into politics to gain the public’s respect, and that is how he expects the homosexual community to gain a voice in the world as well. Lastly he uses anaphora in the last paragraph by repeating “hope for a better.” Each of these three rhetorical devices play to an overall theme of the speech. These rhetorical devices comforts the readers through logic, and a plan for their future as well as reminding them to have hope, so that the homosexual community is one day be treaty the same as any other communitie. Mr. King on the other hand, uses correction of erroneous views, emotional words, and allusions to get his point across. He first starts out correction of erroneous views by calling out those who criticize him, and explains that he is in Birmingham because of injustice. Next he uses emotion words when he is describing how he must tell his daughter out the outside world and how the fact of reality is that he will always be a “nigger” or “boy” despite his positions in life.

Milk’s main objective is to explain to the gay community that there is hope because the winds of change is on horizon, and through his use of rhetorical devices he is able to prove this. Similarly, Mr. King is also able to use rhetorical devices to argue over the distaste of injustice he and his people have been forced to endure, and how they will take no more.

Both Mr. Milk and Dr. King uses many different ways to appeal to their audiences, one main way is figure of speech. One example we see from Mr. Milk where is comparing the lack of hope the homosexuals have for their future to struggles that all minority races have come to know such as unemployment and foreign language. Also Dr. King uses the use of a metaphor when comparing other countries speed in constitutional rights as “jetlike” while America “creep at a horse-and-buggy pace.”

Mr. milk 's speech is very powerful because he is a living example as a homosexual individual in an political office. On the other hand Mr. King 's letter is important because that was the only way for him to communicate with the outside world. In his letter, Mr. King makes clear that he will fight all injustice in any way he can despite of the consequences, and the fact that he is writing from a jail cell only intensifies his