Speech Analysis: Rhetoric, Audience & American Dream

Speech Analysis: Rhetoric & Audience

Personal Dynamics

• Active / Energetic
• Insistent / Persistent
• Aggressive
• Ambitious
• Successful

Mood

Passionate; calm / self-controlled; choleric; melancholic

Self-confidence

With strong nerves; brave / courageous

Moral Attitude

Honest / truthful

Social Aspects

Sociable; open / frank; modest; open-minded; friendly

Argumentation

First of all, I think... | On the one hand,... On the other hand... | Let me give you an example... | As I already indicated... | In other words,... | I should like to emphasize that... | Summing up, it can be said that... | In my opinion...

Rhetorical Devices

• Simile (comparison)
• Personification
• Metaphor
• Symbol
• Hyperbole (exaggeration)
• Euphemism (replace a violent expression)
• Antithesis (opposition of two ideas)
• Rhetorical question
• Climax / Anticlimax
• Alliteration (repetition of sounds)
• Anaphora (repetition at the beginning of sentences) / Epiphora
• Parallelism (similar construction)
• Repetition

Analysis

• Speaker’s goal? Is it to educate, to motivate, to persuade, or to entertain?
• Objective achieved?
• Where and when is the speech being delivered?
• Key demographic features of the audience? Students? Business leaders?
• Does the speech open with a story, a statistic, or a controversial statement?
• Does the speech opening clearly establish the intent of the presentation?
• Is the opening memorable?
• Did all arguments and stories relate back to the primary objective?
• Were metaphors and symbolism used to improve understanding?
• Were examples or statistics provided to support the arguments?
• Is the conclusion concise?
• Was the speaker enthusiastic?
• Was the message you-focused and we-focused where appropriate?
• Simple and easy to understand?
• Was the language appropriate for the audience?
• Are sentences short and easy to understand?
• Were rhetorical devices used?
• How did the speech make you feel?

Reasons for Immigrants

• Question of survival → Lack of food in home country / (civil) war / oppressive regimes
• Loss of home country
• Lure of the American Dream
• Forced immigration (slavery)
• Search for freedom, rights, and/or better living conditions

American Dream / Nightmare

• Life should be better, richer, and fuller
• Opportunities for each according to ability and achievement
• They are able to realize their full potential
• A thing of the past
• Racial equality and justice for all
• Upward social mobility; success through education and hard work
• Individual freedom
• Make a better life for yourself
• Historically → a dream of the West and the frontier, the moving borderline between civilization and wilderness
• Some fear that the American Dream turned into a nightmare