Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical Devices

• Anadiplosis is exemplified by the following quote: "I was born with the gift of speed. Speed made me great at track and field. Track and field made me great at rugby. Rugby helped me build connections with new people."
• Asyndeton is exemplified by the quote: "I woke up, I went to school, I had two test, I had practice, I went to the gym, I picked up my sister, I did homework."
• Antithesis is exemplified by the quote: "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers."
• Alliteration is exemplified by the quote: "Muhammed Ali was a powerful, passionate, and persuasive person."
• Anaphora is exemplified by the quote: "My words have tone. My words have meaning. My words have power. My words inflict change."
• Antithesis is exemplified by the quote: "Keep your mouth closed and your eyes open."
• Hyperbole is exemplified by the quote: "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse."
• Epistrophe is exemplified by the quote: "My passion keeps me disciplined. My will to make the people around me proud keeps me disciplined. My apprehensive thoughts of what could happen if I failed keeps me disciplined."

Message vs. Purpose

• Message: The central theme or idea the speaker wants to convey.
• Purpose: The speaker’s intention or goal in delivering the message.

Robert F. Kennedy's "On the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr." Speech

• Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) delivered the speech on April 4, 1968, in Indianapolis, Indiana, following Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.
• The speech is credited with preventing riots in Indianapolis, where only 4 major American cities avoided major riots [New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis].
• RFK was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.
• He gave the speech impromptu from the back of a flatbed truck in an African-American neighborhood.

Paragraph 1

• MLK was shot and killed.

Paragraph 2

• MLK dedicated his life to bringing love and justice to his fellow human beings.
• His death was a result of that effort.

Paragraph 3

• The speech acknowledges the potential for bitterness, hatred, and revenge among black people due to the assassination.
• It warns against the country moving towards polarization and hatred between black and white people.

Paragraph 4

• RFK states the alternative is to follow MLK's path of understanding, compassion, and love.
• Replace violence and bloodshed with understanding.

Paragraph 5

• RFK shares that he understands the feeling of hatred, as a member of his family was also killed by a white man.
• He emphasizes the need to move beyond these feelings.

Paragraph 6

• RFK quotes Aeschylus to illustrate how wisdom comes through pain and despair ("In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.")

Paragraph 7

• Calls for love, wisdom, and compassion.
• Calls for justice for all, regardless of race.

Paragraph 8

• Asks the audience to pray for the family of MLK and for the country.
• Asks for prayer, understanding and compassion.

Paragraph 9

• Difficult times are expected.
• The end of violence and disorder is not expected.

Paragraph 10

• Most white and black people want to live together in peace.
• People want to improve the quality of life.
• There is a desire for justice for all.

Paragraph 11

• RFK refers to the Greeks, encouraging the audience "to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world".

Paragraph 12

• Dedication to the Greeks.
• Say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Multiple Choice Answers Explained

• RFK's exigence for the speech was fears of riots.
• RFK appeals primarily to pathos when he says, "Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.”
• RFK appeals primarily to pathos when he says, "you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another."
• RFK appeals primarily to ethos when he says, "I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.”
• RFK appeals primarily to logos when he says, "We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder."
• RFK appeals primarily to pathos when he says, “So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.”
• Paragraph 6, beginning with "My favorite poet …" does NOT contain examples of parallel structure.
• RFK makes use of repeating King's name and his desire for unity between races, an ethical and emotional appeal based on the power of religion, and emphasizing a common bond to show the connection between himself and his audience: I, II, and III
• The tone of the speech can best be described as comforting and disarming.
• Paragraph 6 beginning with "My favorite …" gives support to the inference that RFK expected violence to follow the assassination:
• The rhetorical device underlined in the following sentence from paragraph 4 is metaphor.
• The phrase that best summarizes the connection the speaker makes between Aeschylus’ quote and King’s death is: Experiencing tragedy is painful, but it can teach lessons about love and healing.
• The rhetorical devices utilized in paragraph 3 are rhetorical question and parallelism.
• The rhetorical devices utilized in paragraph 7 are anaphora, parallelism, and polysyndeton.
• RFK uses parallelism for emphasis in paragraph 9.
• The rhetorical device RFK uses in paragraph 10 is parallelism.
• The option that best summarizes the central idea of the speech is: Americans should respond to King’s assassination with compassion and unity.
• The sentence that represents RFK’s primary message is paragraph 10 beginning with “But the vast majority of white people...”
• Paragraphs 3-4 develop the message of the speech by making an emotional plea to the audience to honor King’s legacy by avoiding violence
• The primary purpose of RFK's speech is most probably to call unity between blacks and whites and to avoid riots: II & III