Raphael FloresProf. WagenhofferEnglish 10101/11/18Rough Draft Essay 1The world relies on high powers to address international affairs with truthful facts in order to advise the people how our lives are being impacted. Being able to pay attention and understand what is happening to the world around us is how we stay updated on crucial events.
But also how these events are addressed is very important in order to give its maximum impact to the audience all around the globe. In 2013, former President Barack Obama addressed his response to the nation about the chemical attacks on innocent civilians in Syria. The structure of his speech showed a great variety of pathos, logos, and ethos that really wrealed the audience in. By applying a mixture of rhetorical analysis, Obama is able to develop his response and establish a deeper impact to the people about the chemical attacks in Syria. Starting off with the use of pathos, Obama begins his speech by using vivid imagery, such as “ hospitals overflowing with victims”, “ well over 1, 000 people were murdered.
Several hundred of them were children” and “ young girls and boys gassed to death by their own government”. Through this pictorial rhetoric, Obama gives a strong visual impression to make the issue more tangible than it had originally been shown in the news. With this form of speaking, he immediately establishes the purpose for his argument. Further in Obama’s speech he injects the strength and positivity back into the nation by switching his narrative from 1, 000 people being murdered, to America being able to overcome tragedies such as this one. For example, Obama states “ I’ve long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Rather than simply saying the power is in the people, he instead uses a form of epistrophe to give emphasis that not only is the military capable of solving this issue, but that there is no greater amount of power than when the people of the United States of America come together as a nation and help others in need. The last use of pathos Obama uses in his speech is a way to get to the audience on a personal level. For instance, Obama asks, “ what message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children and pay no price?”, “ If we won’t enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others…?” By asking various questions to Congress and the nation as a whole, he implements one factor the people will need to ask themselves if the government cannot effectively take action.
Will the people be able to trust in a higher power to be responsible and act on the best interest for the country in order to keep them safe? Obama sends this emotional message to make the people understand that we will do what we say and that we as Americans will stand by the values that define us. The words Obama uses are powerful enough to touch any American. In this way, he uses pathos in his speech to stimulate the audiences emotions. After connecting to the audience on an emotional level, Obama used logos to express the issue that the use of these chemical weapons can have tragic effects globally in a couple ways.
He states, ” It endangers our friends and our partners along Syria’s borders, including Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Iraq… It could lead to an escalating use of chemical weapons.” This thoroughly informs the people that this attack will not just affect Syria itself, but it will cause a growth in terrorist groups that can potentially threaten other allied countries with the start of a war. He proclaimed that failure to get involved with Syria can generate the use of more chemical weapons by dictators.
It can mean the difference between keeping other countries safe and at peace or the start of a war that can potentially kill millions of innocent people. The Presidents reasoning for logos was highly effective in influencing the audience that intervening in Syria would be crucial to our security nationally and personally. Throughout Obama’s speech he uses pathos to touch the hearts of the people and also logos to inform the people what actions were taking place and why.
To highlight his power as commander in chief he shows the form of ethos to strengthen his credibility. For instance, Obama notes, “ I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets…We would not put boots on the ground. Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope”. With this statement he explicitly disclosed that in his position he can use his authority to call on any action he sees necessary — specifically military strikes. On the other hand, Obama exemplifies himself not only as the commander in chief, but as “ the President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.” acknowledging the fact that he is aware of the position he withholds and the history of leaders before him that have taken on the same responsibility, with this in mind, he also shows that seeking authorization for military force is the right decision. By creating the appeal of ethos and defining his powers to the nation, he strengthens his credibility on both sides of his opposition. At the time of the attack, Obama knew he had to address this issue to the nation.
He used pathos, logos, and ethos to structure his speech in order to make it persuasive and effective. The appeal of pathos was used efficiently at the beginning of the speech as he activated the audience’s emotions of pain and sorrow all at once through his vivid imagery. He built his credibility with ethos by showing that not only is he capable of making executive decisions, but implying that America is the strongest nation in the world, giving confidence to the people that we can help others in need, and we can overcome any conflicts such as the chemical attack on Syria. Finally, Obama uses logos to provide the factual details on what is really going on. The audience developed a better understanding on his conclusion that the U.
S. plans to seek a diplomatic solution effective immediately. The president’s flow of the speech using pathos more consistently to draw in the emotional appeal of the audience, and then using ethos and logos to support his argument made his speech very powerful. As a result, his speech fully demonstrates the three rhetorical appeals and effectively argues his case.