On February 27, 2013, President Barack Obama dedicated the Rosa Parks statue in the National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol building in an address. Rosa Parks played a monumental part in the Civil Rights Movement, and former President Obama gave the address to honor her and urge her willingness to take action on the people of today. His intended audience went beyond the people at the address to all Americans who see problems in society and are not taking action. In Obama's address, he argues that society should follow Parks by taking action to make change by painting a clear picture of Parks' story to fully demonstrate her societal impact, utilizing strong syntax to emphasize his argument, and conveying a strong tone of both respect …show more content…
He uses anaphora when explaining an example of Parks' needed resilience: "When the driver got up from his seat to insist that she give up hers, she would not be pushed. When he threatened to have her arrested, she simply replied, “You may do that.” And he did. His use of this rhetorical device reiterates how resilient and strong parks have to be in order to make change. He then uses this point to apply it to the audience to add to his overall message that they need to exhibit these characteristics to make a similar impact, and his use of anaphora helps with that as it pushes onto the audience how defiant Parks had to be. Obama continues this with his utilization of parallelism when he states, "They began a boycott—teachers and laborers, clergy and domestics, through rain and cold and sweltering heat, day after day, week after week, month after month, walking miles if they had to, arranging carpools where they could, not thinking about the blisters on their feet, the weariness after a full day of work—walking for respect, walking for freedom, driven by a solemn determination to affirm their God-given