ipl-logo

Rhetorical Analysis Of Jessica Lynch's Speech Regarding The War In Iraq

1063 Words5 Pages

Few things surpass the difficulties that accompany the overwhelming unknowns, unplanned fighting, and risk of injury on the battlefield. To exasperate this pain, many media outlets falsely report on wars and publish stories that glamorize the events instead of telling the truth. As a response to the inaccurate “hype” regarding the war in Iraq, former soldier Jessica Lynch strengthens her credibility with stylistic repetition, understatements, and ironic and remarks, and then continues on to evoke the emotions of her audience with exaggeration, witty comparisons, and motivation based on figurative language. The mix of these devices work to inform the audience about the true events that unfolded in Iraq. In order to deliver a captivating and …show more content…

Although the speech comes from a foundation of credibility, the hooks within it stem from the intentional inclusion of stories that sadden and keep the attention of the audience. For example, as mentioned before, while in Iraq, Lynch experienced a difficult journey that she chose to explain with rhetorical devices. Her deployment, a turning point in her life, was marked by a day of struggle and death. As she described, before the death of any of her fellow soldiers, dealing with the vehicles presented the greatest difficulty, and she explains that “it would take us hours to just travel the shortest distance.” Because “the shortest distance” cannot be measured and “hours” is a lengthy, but vague, measure of time, this statement exaggerates actuality. As a hyperbole, this build-up in the speech has the power to arise various emotions, such as shock and excitement, in the audience. After explaining her full story the way it truly happened, she also chose to further explain the media’s inaccuracy using rhetoric. In a certain source, the media referred to her as “the little girl Rambo…who went down fighting.” Clearly a metaphor because Lynch is not actually Rambo himself, but acts comparable to him because of their similar strength, she argues that this comparison was incorrect and that she was not fighting at the time of her severe injury. With this, the speech hopes to get teach the audience the truth, while also evoking a feeling of pity for Lynch and the way the media disrespected her story. In response to her own story, Lynch donates the conclusion of her speech to inspire her audience directly. Although most of “The Truth Is Always More Heroic than the Hype” pertains to her personal situation, the final paragraph urges the

Show More
Related
324 Words | 2 Pages

In 2002, then Senator Barack Obama addressed fellow anti-war rallyist by using scesis onomaton to emphasis his views on why invading Iraq is unreasonable. He signifies that this war is an unrealistic decision by saying that “a dumb...rash war” would only cause more tension between nations. Obviously, he was not anticipating a clear answer because he knew that President Bush would not be able to defend his argument on why the American people should fight against Iraq. Obama brings attention to his audience by repeating similar words like “dumb” and “rash” in order to get his point across of how unnecessary this war will be. He establishes that he “does not oppose all wars”, but he does oppose those which add more fuel to the fire.

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

Readers always hope that incredible stories they read about have some truth to them. Tim O’Brien writes of a lonely soldier named Norman in his short stories “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes.” O’Brien digs at reader's emotions using different postmodern writing techniques to make Norman’s story seem believable, even though it is completely fiction. The themes in Norman Bowker’s story in “Speaking of Courage” make it a prime example of a postmodern story.

Read More
1404 Words | 6 Pages

This tone also creates a sense of emotional appeal by intriguing the reader and making them feel as though they witnessed the crimes due to the extensive detail. McGuire also uses strong diction to further her argument and represent the sadness of the topic, which only strengthens the overall thesis. The writing style, organization, and factual evidence McGuire used has resulted in her successfully proving her thesis. Along with that , I am convinced because all of the information given is credible and when it is all laid out in front of you as a sort of a timeline, it is obvious that these incidents sparked the protests that began the civil rights

Read More
453 Words | 2 Pages

Next, “Barbara’s family home was burned to the ground’’ (P.18), because of the hate people had on her. The teenage girl still fought for what she knew was right with courage. Finally, the students daringly demanded desegregation. To Barbara doing that felt like “reaching for the moon” (P.18). With hard work and determination she achieved what she thought

Read More
609 Words | 3 Pages

Dedication could never exist without motivation. In this speech delivered by Queen Elizabeth in 1588, she addresses her soldiers in Tilbury before the expected invasion of England by Spanish troops. Through her speech, she makes an attempt to create enthusiasm, boost morale, and motivate the troops through the use of rhetorical strategies such as Ethos, diction, and procatalepsis. The first rhetorical strategy employed by the queen is the use of selective diction in her address to the soldiers. Despite the blurred lines between the differentiation of her use of ethos and diction, Elizabeth takes a route of anthropomorphising her position amongst the troops whilst establishing her superiority as nobility.

Read More
581 Words | 3 Pages

It did not take Sarah McLellan long in her career to face a situation that could put her reputation as a journalist on the line. Sarah has been the Arizona Coyotes beat reporter since 2012, when the Coyotes made the Western Conference Finals. As a young reporter for the Coyotes she sat down with the GM at the time, Don Maloney, for a 1-on-1 interview.

Read More
1441 Words | 6 Pages

George W Bush Address to the Nation September 11, 2001: Rhetorical Analysis September 11, 2001 is a day that will be remembered in American history forever. This day was one of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil. More than 3,000 innocent people lost their lives that day. George W Bush had been president of the Untied States for less than a year at the time of the attacks.

Read More
805 Words | 4 Pages

After the 9/11 attacks, America was devastated and distraught. America was in need of a leader. We needed someone to take us in and protect us, to make us feel safe again. George W. Bush (our president at this time) acted as our protector. He comforted America with his sympathetic words, but also managed to bring forth fear to the terrorist.

Read More
357 Words | 2 Pages

President George W. Bush gave a speech titled “9/11 Address to the Nation,” where he reassures the nation of our country’s strength and even calls it the “brightest beacon for freedom.” This event was a suicide bombing of the World Trade Center where approximately 3,000 people were killed and nearly 6,000 more were injured. Although it was one of the worst attacks in American history, it unified the nation in more ways than one. This speech was made even more important after a tragedy like 9/11 because the nation had been frightened by these acts of terror and was in need of the inspiration of our most powerful leader: the commander-in-chief. Throughout this speech, Bush uses rhetorical devices such as pathos, analogy, epithet, and asyndeton

Read More
1413 Words | 6 Pages

Hidden somewhere within the blurred lines of fiction and reality, lies a great war story trapped in the mind of a veteran. On a day to day basis, most are not willing to murder someone, but in the Vietnam War, America’s youth population was forced to after being pulled in by the draft. Author Tim O’Brien expertly blends the lines between fiction, reality, and their effects on psychological viewpoints in the series of short stories embedded within his novel, The Things They Carried. He forces the reader to rethink the purpose of storytelling and breaks down not only what it means to be human, but how mortality and experience influence the way we see our world. In general, he attempts to question why we choose to tell the stories in the way

Read More
1375 Words | 6 Pages

In Phil Klay’s Redeployment, the war in Iraq is described as an intense masculine experience. Through the pages, the presence of women is marginal, if there is any woman in the short stories, and the reader enters in a realm of men and, more important, of what it means to be a real man. The assumption of war as a complete masculine experience might seem pretty obvious; however, Phil Klay is able to offer a crude and clear depiction of it. The author tells twelve different short stories of men who have only one thing in common: the experience of the Iraq War. But this is not simply a book about the war, but also about the consequences that this terrible experience has on the soldiers.

Read More
1032 Words | 5 Pages

Telling a true war story can be hard to do, because soldiers are tempted to change some traumatic aspects to make the story easier to comprehend, and not so traumatic for the listener. For the readers who prefer the brutal and gruesome stories,

Read More
569 Words | 3 Pages

In America’s history, child labor was fiercely criticized. Many activists of child labor laws and women’s suffrage strived to introduce their own viewpoints to the country. Florence Kelley was a reformer who successfully changed the mindset of many Americans through her powerful and persuading arguments. Florence Kelley’s carefully crafted rhetoric strategies such as pathos, repetition, and sarcasm generates an effective and thought provoking tone that was in favor of women’s suffrage and child labor laws. Florence Kelley uses pathos continuously throughout her speech.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

Oprah Winfrey uses her Cecil B de Mille acceptance speech to cast light on societal issues of corruption, discrimination, objectification, and racism. Oprah’s speech reflects an age and dialogue of constant controversy and arguable division surrounding allegations of sexual assault, mistreatment, and the seemingly unthinkable idea of an underlying patriarchy within the film industry. Oprah explores and conveys these ideas through the use of various persuasive linguistic and oratorical techniques. This is seen through her use of ethos and pathos when creating an emphatic delivery and appealing to the emotions of the audience when utilising anecdotes. This is also further seen through her repetition of female pronouns when persuading the audience

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

The rhetorical strategies she chose to use for her argument ensured she presented the most thought provoking, impactful speech. As her Ted Talk continues to reach millions of listeners around the globe, her hope is to breakdown those perpetuated stereotypes and convince the audience to reject the single story by seeking and more importantly, sharing diverse

Read More

More about Rhetorical Analysis Of Jessica Lynch's Speech Regarding The War In Iraq

Related Topics

Open Document