Forms of appeal

The dominant forms of appeal in Barack Obama’s remarks at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela are pathos and etho…

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Logos

The speaker occasionally appeals to the audience’s reason in the speech, by using a logical argumentation structure.

One such example is: “Mandela demonstrated that action and ideas are not enough. No matter how right, they must be chiseled into law and institutions.” (ll. 98-100). The speaker continues to illustrate how ideals need to be put into laws and practical policy to have a real value for others, using Mandela’s example to support his argument that people around the world need to keep fighting for change and for practical solutions to difficult problems.

Additionally, the speaker describes several aspects…

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Ethos

President Barack Obama appeals to trust and authority throughout his speech about Nelson Mandela. As speaker, Obama appeals to the authority of the South African Constitution, to support racial equality: “…the Constitution that emerged was worthy of this multiracial democracy, true to his vision of laws that protect minority as well as majority rights, and the precious freedoms of every South African.” (ll. 110-118)

Also, the speaker borrows from Mandela’s greatness and credibility to describe South Africans and the wider audience in a way that they also appear trustworthy: “he shared with millions of black and colored South Africans the anger born of, "a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments… a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people," he said.” (ll. 64-69); “South Africa shows that is true. South Africa shows we can change…” (ll. 183-184)

Obama ends his speech by appealing to the authority of God, to encourage the audience to feel joined by the same beliefs and higher authority: “May God bless the memory of Nelson Mandela. May God bless the people of South Africa.” (ll. 212-214)

Construc…

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Pathos

Obama appeals to the audience’s emotions in several ways in the speech. This form of appeal is meant to make the audience have an emotional response that is favorable to the speaker’s arguments.

To achieve this, the speaker directly mentions feelings that were probably felt by the majority of the audience: The grief caused by Mandela’s death and their love for him:

“because he could be so full of good humor, even mischief, despite the heavy burdens he carried – that we loved him so.” (ll. 50-52);

“We will never see the likes of…