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Rhetorical Analysis Of 'In The Context Of Ronald Reagan' By Margaret Thatcher

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After the death of a Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher turned a melancholy moment into a celebratory moment. Margaret Thatcher gave a eulogy that caused the audience to evoke emotion, but also to celebrate the life a the great. Her purpose is to allow the audience to remember (or be told of) the greatness of Ronald Reagan. She uses the devices of repetition, metaphor, and pathos to give her message. Throughout the text, repetition is used by the author to help define Ronald Reagan. The first example of it is the word “great.” In the context of Reagan, “We have lost a great president, a great American, and a great man” (1-2). The word “great” emphasizes how Thatcher sees Reagan as an amazing man. Repetition is also found in the idea of freedom. The author uses this idea of freedom in her writing to allow the audience to feel and understand the mission of Reagan--“to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism” (6-7). The word “free” is used to help the audience …show more content…

The author tugs at the feelings of the reader to allow them to understand what she feels so strongly about. Thatcher speaks of Reagan as an amazing and intelligent man who was loved. The pathos is used when the author’s hook includes “I have lost a dear friend” (2). This captures the audience attention, causing them to listen. Thatcher purposefully uses this hook to show that she cared about him too, and is mournful as well. In paragraph 3, Thatcher uses a happier kind of pathos: “[Reagan’s jokes] were evidence that in the aftermath of terror and in the midst of hysteria one great heart at least remained sane and jocular.” She creates a tone of ambivalence to make the audience remember the good in Reagan with a happy moment in a sad reality. She wants the audience to listen so they can understand who Ronald Reagan really was. Pathos is the most powerful device Thatcher used to cause emotion in the

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