Rhetorical Analysis of Obamas Inaugural Address 2008 Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical Analysis of Obamas maiden Address 2008 EssayThe 2008 presidential campaign was controversial, emotional, historical and also amidst an economic crisis. Barack Obamas victory tag a change in American society regarding race and politics. His election as the first African American President of the United States is profound and signifies a changing America. Obama gave his inaugural address on January 20, 2009 in Washington D.C. Unlike the campaign, the inauguration was a celebration, marked by clear skies and a patriotic crowd. more than one million people gathered in the National Mall to support the newly elected President despite cold weather. His primary earshot was the American people viewing, but he also appealed to a secondary audition consisting of nations across the globe. Obamas use of diction, tone, and vocal compartmentalization created a ruling delivery that supported his implicit purpose. In order to achieve his evident purpose, he established and mai ntained a positive ethos and appealed to pathos through imagery. Obamas explicit purpose was deliberative and challenged Americans to return to the moral truths upon which our success depends.He does not clearly state his main claim until the end of the speech. He goes on to list these truths as, honesty and intemperate work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty, and patriotism. After listing these values and challenging Americans to return to them, he states, what is required directly of us is a new era of obligation a recognition, on the part of every American, that we stimulate duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world . . .. He is leaving it up to American citizens to take responsibility to face the challenges of today by returning to principles of yesterday. Implicitly, Obamas speech was an attempt to generate a sense of hope back into America. He chooses words such as hope, unity, and peace in order to rhetorically soothe the audience. He delivers a powerful implicit put across through his use of diction, tone, and vocal variety. The diction that Obama used in addition to tone and vocal variety created a powerful delivery that contributed to the success of his motives for speaking.By choosing to use particular words or phrases, Obama was adapted to convey his message more clearly and he was also able to affect the audience in a particular way. For example, near the beginning of the speech he says, the time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit. This is some other way of stating his explicit purpose. relation back the audience that they have an enduring spirit is an attempt to encourage them to press on. Another example of this encouraging diction is when he says, we must pick ourselves up, dissipate ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. This phrase received great reception from the audience because of the optimism it instilled. Not only did the specific words that he chose contribute to the succ ess of his speech, but the way in which he delivered the words ultimately made the purpose of the speech successful. Throughout the duration of his speech, Obama maintained a clear, strong, confident voice that easily projected across the magnificent crowd.He enunciated each word clearly and carefully and adjusted his tone appropriately with his speech. He also emphasized particular words in order to stress their significance. One particular example of this was when Obama was discussing our common defense and he said, and we are relieve oneself to lead once more, stressing each word separately and with great force. This is important because it gets the audiences attention and not only focuses on his explicit purpose, but also implicitly creates optimism that generates hope into the crowd. In order to gain credibility with his audience, Obama had to first establish a positive ethos. Without credibility, Obama would not be able to achieve his primary purpose. He appeals to ethos when he opens his speech with my fellow citizens. By putting himself on the same level as the people who had elected him President, he was able to gain their trust and respect. He does this again when he says . . . We the People have remained faithful only a few sentences later.Not only does Obama have to establish a positive ethos to accomplish his explicit purpose, he also needs to maintain a positive ethos. He does this successfully several propagation throughout his speech. One way in particular that he does this is by continuing to include himself with the American citizens. He does not blame the state of the economy on the government, citizens, or anyone else, but instead calls it our collective failure to make hard choices. He could easily point a finger at another political party, for example, but he does not, and that maintains his positive credibility. A final way in which Obama establishes and maintains a positive ethos is by addressing the contend side. He discusses how t hey will strike hard his plans and refutes it by saying, the question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works . . ..By taking the opposing side into account, Obama demonstrates that he is well prepared and credible which enables him to achieve his explicit purpose. Obama also appeals to pathos through descriptive imagery in attempt to trigger people to return to old moral values. He discusses the Americans who have struggled, sacrificed, and persevered for generations and the examples that they are. For instance, he says,for us, they packed up . . . and traveled . . . for us, they toiled in sweatshops . . . endured the lash of the whip . . . plowed the hard earth. . . for us, they fought and died . . .. His repeated use of for us is an example of anaphora and is significant because it reinforces the sacrifice behind the struggle. He wanted Americans to remember those in the past who had fought and endured for freedom and victory.By doing this, Obama further motivated his audience to return to old moral values and encouraged them to take responsibility to face the challenges of this age. In conclusion, Barack Obamas diction, tone, and vocal variety contributed to an influential delivery that directly influenced the success of his implicit purpose of instilling optimism into the American people. By establishing and maintaining a positive ethos, Obama created a more receptive audience that was willing to hear what he had to say because of his recognized credibility.This enabled him to achieve his primary purpose of challenging Americans to return to old moral values and to take responsibility for themselves, their nation, and even the world. Finally, Obama appealed to pathos in an attempt to further challenge Americans by reminding them of brave Americans from the past who have struggled and sacrificed so that freedom could live on. Barack Obamas Inaugural Address is quite successful when analyzing these elements because he effectively fit his message to the current economic circumstances and used suitable techniques to appeal to the audience.