Religion And Relationship Diction In We Shall Overcome By President Johnson

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Lastly, President Johnson use of religious and relationship diction such as "God" and "brothers" create concerned and formal tone towards the speech subject of banning the discrimination. His use of religious and relationship diction in "We Shall Overcome" divides into three parts; two main subjects, what God has provided for mankind, and what the mankind provided for themselves. The two main subjects are "God" and "brothers," which indicate the mankind (and especially the white citizens). Between the two subjects, President builds his concerned tone by using words such as "promise," "rights," "equality," and "purpose," which symbolizes what God has provided for mankind. Meanwhile, President also uses the words such as "faith," "cries of pain," "courage," and …show more content…

President Johnson used this religious and relationship diction to with a concerned and formal tone. His concerned tone is shown as he claimed that discrimination needs to stop, "We have already waited a hundred years and more, and the time for waiting is gone." His tone of concern indicate that the discrimination needs to discontinue quickly as possible because it might ruin the relationship between God and the "brothers" by creating more "pain" or injustice rather than "courage" or "faith" to the other children of God with different skin color. "God will not favor everything that we do," indicate that the actions which the mankind take, God will not favor it; meaning that discriminating God's creation based on different race will make God even more upset, which will eventually cause the bad relationship between God and "brothers." President Johnson also uses formal tone in his speech with his respectful and appropriate behavior, which is shown as he starts his speech: "I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of