Analysis of the speech "A More Perfect Union" - Barack Obama
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miaelisabeth (student)
Mia Becktor, 2.a English analysis 28/10/11Aurehøj Gymnasium ”A More Perfect Union”- Barack Obama “A more perfect union” is the name of the speech, which was held by Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008. The speech was held within the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination contest, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union” is the first line of Obama’s speech. It is not only an allusion, because it can be recognized as the first line in the U.S. Constitution, but also a perfect ethos appeal to catch everyone’s attention. It reminds the audience that he is the authority at this moment, and that he his probably about to say something important. He continues his speech with a logos appealed narrative element, which is a short retelling of the formulation of the U.S. Constitution. Logos appears in the narrative element because it shows how Obama uses his common knowledge to catch the audience. The short retelling indicates how the Constitution was to be America’s first improbable experiment in democracy. But because of disagreement and divided colonies the
founders chose to allow the slave trade for at least twenty more years. Obama quotes; “The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery…” With the two alliterations and a metaphor Obama clearly expresses his unhappiness for the final decision, about the slavery, two hundred and twenty one years ago. He resumes the speech with pathos appeal, which is the appeal to emotions. He uses the appeal when he tells how, even though the Constitution was suppose to give people liberty and justice, the words on the parchment were ...
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founders chose to allow the slave trade for at least twenty more years. Obama quotes; “The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery…” With the two alliterations and a metaphor Obama clearly expresses his unhappiness for the final decision, about the slavery, two hundred and twenty one years ago. He resumes the speech with pathos appeal, which is the appeal to emotions. He uses the appeal when he tells how, even though the Constitution was suppose to give people liberty and justice, the words on the parchment were never enough to abolish the slavery, or provide every man and woman of every “color and creed” their full rights as U.S citizens. To reverse this, he also retells how the American people had to put themselves trough various dangers to get proper liberty for everyone. Obama’s ambitions is to continue this march for more justice, he quotes; “…we set forth at the beginning of this campaign – to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.” With this list Obama emphasizes his true desire for an improved community. And with the following antithesis, he explains how to get this improved community: “…we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together – unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction – towards a better future…” The quote, which not only contains antithesis, also describes how Obama especially uses pathos as his form of appeal. The pathos appeal continues in high definition when Obama carries on with his speech by using a narrative element when telling about his own American story. The emotion effect, which pathos embodies, is thrown like a bomb when Obama describes how his grandfather survived a depression to serve in Patton’s Army during Wold War II. Except for the emotion bomb, Obama starts to gain ethos when telling about his genetic makeup. He states, that he is the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. He continues by telling how he himself is married to a black American woman who carries the blood of “salves and slaveowners” and how he has family members of every race and hue from all across the world. All in all, he exposes the fact that he has the blood from two different races. He has married a woman who has the inheritance of slave and slave owner within her. Additionally, he has fathered children who have the blood of four different humanities. Meaning, he is an authority on race, which represents an appearance of ethos. He concludes this part by expressing how his story about his genetic history proves how America as a nation is more than the sum of its parts, and that out of many the American people are truly one. Furthermore, Obama’s speech can be put in Stephen Toulmin’s model of argumentation, which is based on finding the grounds of the speech, the claim and the warrant. In relations to the extract version of “A More Perfect Union” the claim could be; “You should vote for me as president.” The grounds could therefore be: “Because I believe, we can create a more free, equal and prosperous America.” And at last the warrant could be: “Since we can not solve the challenges of this time unless we solve them together”. Later the same year as when “A More Perfect Union” was held, Obama held a speech at the Democratic Convention in Denver, called “The American Promise”. The American Promise withholds the fundamental belief in the true American Dream, a dream that can be succeeded by anyone through sacrifice and hard work. Because of this, everyone is able to pursue their own individual dream, but still achieve a well-working community, which can come together as one. Exactly the same community is enlightened in A More Perfect Union. This can especially be seen in the last part of the extracted version, where Obama explains his American story. He concludes that no matter what color or race you belong within, the whole population of America is truly as one person. All in all it is clear that the two speeches convey the same purpose. A society of hope, justice, equality, liberty, freedom and successive goals, this is not only the ideal civilization, but it is also the American Dream - and Promise of Obama himself. It’s a dream and promise, to the American people, which he promotes throughout his two speeches, “A More Perfect Union” and “The American Promise”. Underskrift______________________