Rhetorical devices
Here are some of the rhetorical devices used by Obama in his speech on reclaiming the American Drea…
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Direct address
Obama directly addresses his audience through the repeated use of the personal pronoun “you”. In the following example, Obama addresses the working class directly. This helps the audience sympathize with Obama, who appears to understand their problems and to be ready to help them:
You know it from your own lives. Americans are working harder for less and paying more for health care and college. For most folks, one income isn't enough to raise a family and send you…
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Metaphors
In his speech, Obama uses several metaphors to help the audience better visualize and understand his points of view. For example, he uses the metaphor of the safety net and the golden parachute when he wants to show that the current Bush administration only favors the well-off and not the working class:
For far too …
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Repetition
Anaphora – which is the repetition of the same words at the beginning of consecutive sentences – is noticeable at the beginning of the speech, when Obama talks about common American dreams: “These are dreams that drove my grandparents. (…) These are dreams that drove my father-in-law. (…) These are dreams that drove my mother. (…) And these are the dreams that led me…” (ll. 17-34)
In the example above, anaphora is used to provoke emotions in the audience and t…