Rhetorical Devices
Explain the rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos and logos.
Logos: A logical appeal. Also known as an evidential appeal.
Pathos: An appeal to the audience's emotions.
Ethos: Moral, expertise and knowledge.
This president and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He owned the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015, and produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice from 2004 to 2015.
Who is this?
Donald Trump - Republican
"It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably— probably— from the Middle East. But we don’t know. Because we have no protection and we have no competence, we don’t know what’s happening. And it’s got to stop and it’s got to stop fast. Islamic terrorism is eating up large portions of the Middle East. They’ve become rich. I’m in competition with them."
Donald Trump's Presidential Announcement Speech
.... Crime, illegal immigrants, foreign policy, etc.
"I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. "
Martin Luther King
How often do Presidential elections occur and at what date?
Every 4 years on the first Tuesday after the first monday in November.
Explain what "antithesis" means and how it can be used in a speech to great effect.
“Antithesis” literally means “opposite” – it is usually the opposite of a statement, concept, or idea. In literary analysis, an antithesis is a pair of statements or images in which the one reverses the other (contrast).
____ succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.
This president was assassinated in a theatre.
Who is this?
Abraham Lincoln - Republican
"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination."
Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream
Abraham Lincoln - Equal Rights - Racism/segregation in the US.
"This nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Abraham Lincoln
Name the two candidates and their Vice Presidents.
Trump + Vance and Harris + Walz
Explain what an "allusion" is and how it can be used in a speech to great effect.
Allusions are used as stylistic devices to help contextualize a story by referencing a well-known person, place, event, or another literary work. Strengthens ethos.
After John Quincy Adams, _____ is the second president to be the son of a president. From 1994-2000, he was the governor of Texas.
Who is this?
George W. Bush - Republican
"The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."
Abraham Lincoln - Gettysburg Address
The Civil War, Honoring the dead soldiers (on both sides), The birth of a "new freedom", Abolishing the slaves...
"A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny. And anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it. At the same time, in our nation, we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. My allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up."
Kamala Harris
At least how old does a president need to be when he or she takes office?
35
Explain the following forms of figurative language (and come up with one example each):
Simile, Metaphor and Personification.
Simile: "You were as brave as a lion." (uses as or like)
Personification: "The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky."
Metaphor: "Time is a thief"
____ served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba until his assassination.
Who is this?
President John F. Kennedy - Democrat
"For many Americans, these four months have brought sorrow, and pain that will never completely go away. (...)
I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
George W. Bush - State of the Union Address (2002)
War on terror, Axis of Evil, Homeland Security, 9/11 victims, the military budget.
"To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom -- and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside."
"Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction."
John F. Kennedy
How many Americans voted in 2024?
156 million (64%)
Explain the following forms of repetition: Anaphora, Epiphora and Parallelism
Anaphora/Epiphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning/ending of successive clauses.
Parallelism: Also known as parallel structure, is when phrases in a sentence have similar or the same grammatical structure.
____ won a record four presidential elections and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly after he died in office.
Who is this?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Democrat
"It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again. Listen to each other again. And to make progress, we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies. They are Americans. They’re Americans.
The Bible tells us to everything there is a season, a time to build, a time to reap and a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America."
Joe Biden - Victory speech
Immigration/racism, uniting the country, healing (Covid, economy, etc.)
"Americans who have lost their jobs need our help and I support extending unemployment benefits and direct assistance for health care coverage. Yet, American workers want more than unemployment checks -- they want a steady paycheck. When America works, America prospers, so my economic security plan can be summed up in one word: jobs."
George W. Bush
What is the electoral college?
When Americans go to the polls in presidential elections they're actually voting for a group of officials who make up the electoral college.
The word "college" here simply refers to a group of people with a shared task. These people are electors and their job is to choose the president and vice-president.
The number of electors from each state is roughly in line with the size of its population