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Rhetorical Devices In Jfk Inaugural Address

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The significant purpose of John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address was to bring unity among the people of the America. As a result of winning by just a small margin, there were many viewers of Kennedy’s speech who were not in favor of Kennedy as President. This motivates Kennedy to win the people over with his speech. Kennedy attempts to portray the idea of unity of the people to achieve his goal of bringing the people together no matter their differences or opinions. The use of rhetorical devices, specifically in the beginning and end of his speech, helps Kennedy to embed the idea of unity among the people. The very beginning and end of any speech or paper is the most critical piece of the presentation. Viewers and listeners always listen more intently to the first sentence and the last one. Kennedy recognizes this and creates an ample amount of hooks and grabbers that interest the viewers, within the start and finish of his speech. Unity and bringing people together was a major goal of Kennedy’s speech, therefore …show more content…

Kennedy uses antimetabole to highlight his call to action of the people. Kennedy’s most famous quote and most used quote in a prompt worldwide, is that of Kennedy’s hortative sentence: “My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” To bring unity among the nation, and even the world, Kennedy calls the people to do something about it. Antimetabole assists in really implanting the thought of having people not focus on their own benefits, but rather the benefits that they can provide their country. Antimetabole shows this idea by reversing the order of repeated words to catch the people’s attention. Kennedy’s use of antimetabole obviously hit home to most people, for it is now his most famous quote and commonly used throughout school for learning purposes, and taking

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