Analysis of the speech "A More Perfect Union" - Barack Obama

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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
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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 ...

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