Rhetorical devices
Allusions
Allusions are references to other events, people or texts that are made to make the speaker's words more convincing or relateable.
In his remarks on reducing gun violence, President Barack Obama alludes to recent gun control achievements in Connecticut, inspiring a sense of pride in his audience: “That’s what Governor Malloy and all these legislative leaders did. That’s wh…
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Direct address
Obama directly addresses his audience by often using the personal pronoun “you” and the possessive “your”. The importance of this rhetorical device is that Obama also directly refers to issues that concern the audience directly and to events they have experienced firsthand: “And I know many of you in Newtown wondered if the rest of us would live up to the promise we made in those dark days -- if we’d change, too…” (…
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Humor
Humor is employed when Obama refers to the conflict between Democrats and Republicans: “It turns out 90 percent of Americans think so. Ninety percent of Americans support universal background checks. Think about that. How often do 90 percent of Americans agree on anything?” (ll. 177-180)
As a reaction, his audience laughs, which means that they have understood and agree with …
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Rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are employed when Obama does not expect an answer from the audience, but when he wants to make a point about his proposal. For example, he employs a rhetorical question when he suggests that law-abiding citizens should not be afraid of background checks: “If you’re a law-abiding citizen and you go through a background check to buy a gun, wouldn’t you expect other people to play by the same rules?” (ll. 167-170).
Other rhetorical questions are employed when Obama wan…
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Repetition
Anaphora is the use of a series of phrases or sentences that start in the same way. In his speech, Obama uses anaphora several times to highlight his arguments and encourage his audience to remember them.
For instance, Obama uses anaphora when he talks about some of the measures he has proposed to the Congress related to reducing gun violence:
We have to tell Congress it’s time to require a background check (…) We have to tell Congr…
