SPACECAT
Who is the speaker?
Sonia Sotomayor.
What is the tone at the beginning of the speech?
Compassionate, personal, nostalgic, and emotional.
What are two words to define Sotomayor's writing style?
Compassionate and resilient.
What are the two rhetorical devices she uses?
Anecdote and irony.
What is Sotomayor's ethos?
Personal experience as Latin-American, and qualifications as an appeals-court judge.
What diction supports the tone in the first half?
The way her anecdotes are worded as well as the examples of food she includes, being very personal.
What is the first question Sotomayor asks in her speech?
"Who am I?"
What are her personal anecdotes about?
Her life and culture as a Latina-American with immigrant parents.
What are some examples of how Sotomayor appeals to pathos?
What were some rhetorical choices that Sotomayor made in her speech?
Anecdotes and Diction.
What is the tone shift?
The tone shifts from personal, nostalgic and emotional, to targeting a broader audience instead and being awe-inspiring because her stories from before are what made her now.
Why does Sotomayor feel the need to use her personal experiences as anecdotes?
They lead to pathos and ethos, as well as making her tone clear.
Why do her anecdotes strengthen her message?
Her message becomes more convincing because she knows what she's talking about and is at the center of it.
How does Sotomayor appeal to her audience's logos?
Showing stories from others that serve as fact and back up her own experiences.
Who is the audience?
American-Spanish Population, Americans directly related to diversity especially in a law sense, and the students and staff at University of California's School of Law.
It's bringing her message to directly face her audience, as if she were speaking one on one with them all. She's in a sense asking her audience to bring a change to the outlook on diversity that America has.
Why does Sotomayor use rhetorical questions?
The questions reach out into the audience, resulting in engagement and curiosity.
What is an example of the irony in Sotomayor's speech?
Lines 75-77.
How do lines 98-74 appeal to pathos?
It makes Sotomayor's audience step back and realize they have to support the acknowledgement of diversity.
What is the context of this speech?
Where does the tone shift begin?
When she speaks about her original plan to major in history.
Why is her writing style so engaging?
Her use of questions and anecdotes makes the audience curious, resulting in more engagement.
Why is there irony in the quote used?
America is a 'melting pot' but no one actually treats it that way, even if they boast about it, because the white community is more prominent in America regardless.
What lines appeal to Sotomayor's audience and why?
Lines 41-51, especially when she mentions that not all people like her are good at Spanish. This is a fact and shows that Sotomayor understands that everyone is different even in the same culture, leading to her message.