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Rhetorical Analysis Of John F Kennedy Inaugural Address

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On January 20th, 1961 during President John F Kennedy inaugural address Kennedy persuades the audience that they should fight for equality and democracy around the world and inspired millions using antitheses, metaphors, and pathos. Kennedy's one most effective strategies used in the speech was the use of an antithesis’ to make his points seem like the obvious and best choice. An example of this would be when he says “... ask not what you country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." This is very effective because it shows the audience the best path possible. In addition it gives people a sense of duty to serve their country. Another example seen in the speech would be when he says “I do not shrink from this responsibility--I …show more content…

They can see when he says "the chains of poverty". This is significant because it shows, and put a picture into the audience's mind how bad poverty is in other country. In addition this would make people have an urge to fight for and achieve inequality. He also uses a metaphor when he said “Let the word go forward from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans... ". While there was not actually a torch being passed it shows that a new generation of youth are going to be in charged and take over. In both antithesis’ and metaphors there is clear evidence that pathos, the most effective tool used in the speech, was used in both rhetorical devices and it generally gave Americans a sense of duty. For example pathos can be seen when he says "the graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe". This would make the audience sad and emotional which would make them feel a sense of duty. An additional time that he uses pathos when he says "To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery... ". This makes people feel bad about the condition others go though and it will compel them to help out. In conclusion, President John F Kennedy persuades the audience that they should fight for equality and democracy around the world and inspired millions using antitheses, metaphors,

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J.F Kennedy, the president of United States wanted to put the first Americans to the moon-America exploring the moon, so he directed his speech to the people of taxes and Rice University to promote his space exploration program that will help America to be the first country to explore the moon. He believes that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Throughout J.F Kennedy's speech, the speaker makes effective use of evidence, reasoning, rhetorical elements, and rhetorical devices that together form his argument to gain people support for his space exploration program. J.F Kennedy was trying to prove his point of view by giving examples and using a lot of Rhetorical devices and appeals that would grab the reader's attention

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In his speech Kennedy uses different rhetorical devices to unify the citizens of both the United States and the world. Kennedy was giving this speech after winning by a very small margin of votes so he was trying to unite the people of the United States and show he was the correct choice for the president. This speech was given during the Cold War so he was trying to connect the people around the whole world and establish peace. Kennedy was able to unify the people and try to establish peace while at the same time making himself seem like a very competent leader. In his speech Kennedy tries to build his credibility as a personable leader by creating ethos.

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In John F. Kennedy’s incentive Inaugural Address speech, he inspires his audience by using rhetorical devices such as antithesis, parallelism and pathos to create unity and expand human rights in his country. The first implement that is introduced in this speech is

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The Inaugural speech by John F. Kennedy is a landmark type of speech that was given to the American populace in order to inspire confidence and to provoke them to take immediate action. His speech made extensive use of rhetorical devices in order to successfully express his goals. His stylistic devices include antithesis, parallelism, and varying structure flows in order to attract attention and to show what his service will accomplish. Kennedy details “a new generation of Americans” by contrasting old and new with his antithesis. He states, “Symbolizes an end as well as a beginning” and “signifies renewal as well as change” in order to do so.

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In John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, he proposed a major idea that people should unite and work together to promote liberty and rights. He stated that people had the power to modify the world: To destroy all forms of good or evil. Yet people should use it in the right places, which is to support allies and oppose enemies. And enemies can become friends through negotiations and cooperation.

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The use of antithesis in Kennedy 's speech is demonstrated in the statement: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country” (para. 25). Kennedy’s use of antithesis are used to strengthen his argument. He strengthened his argument by inviting the audience to think about what one can do for the country. Another example Kennedy uses, “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate” (para. 14). Kennedy is saying to never have fear to negotiate and face our fears.

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For instance, he told Americans that they could over economic depression of that time, he said: “The economic ills we suffer that come upon us over several decades will in days, month or weeks” “They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now…. , to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.” Finally, the last two remaining strategies he uses are elemental and societal symbols. In short, using the strategy of elemental symbol, he mentioned the working Americans as the backbone of this nation “They are, in short, ‘We the People’, this breed called American.”

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For example, He used repetition to give the audience a clear view as to what he wanted, and emphasize on the word hope, “That was hope, hope for the future. Ladies and gentlemen, the finest asset the U.S. has to give to the world was hope, is hope, will be, and must always be hope.”. Finally, he used the rhetorical appeals ethos and paths to grab the audience’s attention. “I believe those gold stars are a proud symbol of the sacrifices in defending freedom. But in those gold stars, we also find pain, sorrow, and love for family of young American’s who otherwise would have lived happy lives.”

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John F. Kennedy discusses and analyzes on how the nation differs from the past and present day in that time period. Kennedy narrators on the division and war in the the world to appeal to the audience patriotism by using pathos and logos. In this speech President Kennedy states “to thoses who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request; that both sides begin the quest for peace, before the dark power of destruction unleashed.” He uses this quote to obtain a logical appeal to the appeal to the people. Kennedy uses logos to show that he wants the nation to come together and be humble together in one peace.

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John F. Kennedy uses literary devices to capture the attention of the audience, sets himself equal to his audience getting their attention and support, and uses the christian religion to strike the emotions and gain the support of his audience. Kennedy uses many literary devices to catch the attention of his audience. One of these devices is repetition. One example of repetition that Kennedy uses is, “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

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But let us never fear to negotiate.” President Kennedy wanted to insure the people of our country that by being a unified whole we can be stronger and use that strength to help others. By using anaphora in this section of the speech, he creates a sense of unity amongst not only Americans, however, between

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He uses the appeal of pity, portraying how he himself has faced the same things his audience has, making him feel the same way. He says, “I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver -- no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system.” He connects with the audience and shows them how he Americans have made him feel for years. He knows how he is looked upon, and is not afraid to say it.

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