Rhetorical Analysis Of A More Perfect Union By Cesar Chavez

In ‘What the future holds for farmworkers and Hispanics” and “ A more perfect union” Cesar Chavez, an American labor leader and civil rights activist, and Barack Obama, the first African American to serve as president, build arguments that evoke change in their audience. Both of the speeches, are powerful pieces and communicate similar visions: Unity and Equality. To effectively divulge their claims, the authors use rhetorical devices, rhetorical appeals and evidence/reasoning strengthening the logic and persuasiveness of their arguments . Cesar Chavez invokes emotion in the reader’s heart. He does this by reciting harsh situations, where children are being forced to work; “Child labor is still common in many farm areas... Kids as young as

This is very effective because it elicits credence in his speech. On the other hand, Former President, Barack Obama likewise kindles emotion, in his plea for unity. Awakening patriotism, Obama turns to the nation’s history, “Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a study hall that still stands across the street a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy.” This was a puissant way to start his speech, it impels the audience to yield their nation. Correspondingly, he then refers to the fundamental principles of the United States, “ The Constitution… promised its people liberty and justice”. In paragraph 24, Obama states “ These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.” Prior to this paragraph Obama described the levels of segregation of today, and the hate among the divisions but, in spite of that, he confesses his abiding love. Not to be forgotten, ethos is undoubtedly the most important rhetorical device employed in this speech. Barack Obama, a product of an

The two speeches manipulate the rhetorical appeal of imagery to advocate their claims. As seen in Paragraphs 1-3 Chavez saturates the audience with imagery. “Twenty-one years ago last september, on a lonely stretch of railroad track paralleling U.S. highway 101 near Salinas, 32 Bracero farm workers, lost their lives in a tragic accident.” Another powerful appeal to imagery is seen in the same paragraph. “Today, thousands of farm workers live under savage conditions--beneath trees amid garbage and human excrement..Vicious rats gnaw on them as they sleep. They walk miles to buy food at inflated prices. And they carry in water from irrigation pumps.” These quotes illustrate horrific images, engendering sympathy in the hearts of the audience. In like manner, Obama achieves pathos through the use of allusion and imagery.. Throughout his essay, Barack Obama carefully chooses his terminology, phrases such as “Jim Crow, “Racial”, Inferior” and “Equal citizenship”, elicit humaneness through snapshots of the vocabulary used. Furthermore, the imagery that is provoked with idiom such as slave or slavery is still mournful today. In Paragraph 30, it states that, “Legalized discrimination.. Meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of