Obama had different persuasive goals in mind when he constructed the speech. He wanted to evoke emotion, show trust, and provide justification to the audience. To do this he utilized the three types of proof which are ethos, logos, and pathos. He uses these proofs to persuade the audience to feel a sense of hope and to unite together as a nation ending these violent acts. Obama illustrates ethos in his speech as he states, “in the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this” (npr.org). In this statement, Obama is building external credibility with his audience. He is …show more content…
To persuade the audience further, Obama needed to provide justification in his claims and call to action. One instance of logos that caught my attention was when Obama stated, “since i've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting. The fourth time we've hugged survivors. The fourth time we've consoled the families victims” (npr.org). Here Obama is stating the fact that this is not the first shooting to occur in America. He also lists the different locations in which the previous mass shootings happened. This is convincing the audience to see the pattern of violence and to recognize that it cannot be tolerated any longer. Another instance of logos is when obama states, “no single law - no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society” (npr.org). Here Obama is trying to convince the audience by using logic (ethospathoslogos.com). Obama is claiming that laws may cannot prevent evil from occurring but the people of America can take action and execute different modes of prevention. This is obvious and convinces the people that more gun control must be