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

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

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