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Theodore Roosevelt Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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Theodore Roosevelt, in his compassionate letter to his son “The Proper Place for Sports” (1903), implies that football or sports in general shouldn’t take priority over more urgent responsibilities. Roosevelt supports his opinion by incorporating insightful historical events, acknowledging the potentially reasonable opposing view, and implementing compelling anaphora. His purpose is prevent his son, Ted, from completely being engulfed by his demanding dream of joining his school football team in order to convince him to focus on other vital duties, such as schoolwork. Roosevelt adopts a sympathetic tone (“I am proud of your pluck, and I greatly admire football… But the very things that make it a good game make it a rough game”) aimed to his …show more content…

After observing several people fall due to their fixation to sports, Roosevelt was afraid that his son would become infatuated about football as well and end up with a similarly impertinent situation as them. Not only does Roosevelt drive his argument more persuasively with this comparison but he also demonstrates his concern towards his son; this ultimately allows Roosevelt to advise what’s best for him: concentrating on the more pressing matters instead of having football tie Ted into a commitment that isn’t …show more content…

By using this forbearing approach, Roosevelt’s attitude seems more merciful and understanding. Roosevelt’s realizes that his son is fascinated by football and doesn’t want to push him away by acting like an oppressive dictator. Simply ranting about reasons why football is worthless would neither allow his son to listen to him nor accomplish anything. Once establishing a tender tone, Roosevelt could then go on to effectively conveying his reasons why he felt that Ted shouldn’t be involved in

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