UNIT 4: THE POWER OF
LANGUAGE
PART 3: THE RHETORIC PUZZLE
UNIT 4 PART 3 DAY 6
APRIL 24, 2017
STARTER
• IN LN, ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING PROMPT:
DOES THE RHETORICAL TRIANGLE RELATE ONLY TO FAMOUS SPEAKERS AND FORMAL SPEECHES?
CAN IT RELATE TO EVERYDAY CONVERSATIONS AS WELL? WHAT ABOUT TELEVISION
(NEWSCASTERS, REPORTERS)? EXPLAIN THE REASONS FOR YOUR POSITION, INCLUDING
EXAMPLES. (REMEMBER THE POWER OF ETHOS, PATHOS, AND LOGOS AS YOU WRITE!)
HOMEWORK
• READ INDEPENDENTLY.
• ANSWER QUESTION FROM DOK CALENDAR IN JOURNAL.
• REVIEW NOTES.
• MEMORIZE TERMS AND DEFINITIONS.
• COMPLETE ANY UNFINISHED WORK FROM TODAY’S CLASS ACTIVITY.
• READING SCRAPBOOKS DUE MAY 4, 2017.
PRACTICE WITH VERBALS
• COPY THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES INTO LN. PLACE ONE LINE UNDER THE SUBJECT, AND
TWO LINES UNDER THE VERB OR VERB PHRASE OF THE SENTENCE. PLACE ALL VERBALS AND
VERBALS PHRASES IN BRACKETS, IDENTIFY THE TYPE OF VERBAL/VERBAL PHRASE, AND TELL
HOW IT IS USED IN THE SENTENCE.
1.
AFTER LOSING THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, THE HEARTBROKEN TEAM BOARDED THE BUS FOR
THE LONG RIDE HOME.
2.
TO SURVIVE THE HARSH ARCTIC WINTER WAS A CHALLENGING FEAT FOR THE EXPLORERS.
3.
FOUR FORMER STUDENTS WERE CHARGED FOR BREAKING INTO THE VENDING MACHINES.
JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
• TODAY WE WILL GET BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT JFK IN ANTICIPATION OF
ANOTHER SPEECH. TAKE NOTES IN LN ON THE FOLLOWING SLIDES.
• TURN TO YOUR PARTNER AND SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT JFK.
John F. Kennedy pictured during
his Inaugural Speech
Ted Sorenson about Kennedy: “He believed in
the power and glory of words—both written
and spoken—to win votes, to set goals, to
change minds, to move nations.”
(Sorenson was Kennedy’s speech writer. Notice the
similarity of style in this quotation and the subsequent
quotes taken from Kennedy’s speeches.)
Context of the Speech
• Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961.
• This period in history is marked by the Cold War,
the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam
War.
• Kennedy’s Campaign Slogan: “New Generation
Offers A Leader”
Background of the Speech: 5 Events
1.
Europe 1939:
“…each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its
national loyalty.”
“the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans”
“…we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of
liberty.”
“ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your
country.”
Background of the Speech: 5 Events
2. Pacific 1943:
“Since this country was founded, each
generation of Americans has been
summoned to give testimony to its
national loyalty. The graves of young
Americans who answered the call to
service surround the globe.”
Background of the Speech: 5 Events
3. Berlin 1945:
“For man holds in his mortal hands the
power to abolish all forms… of human
life.”
“…both rightly alarmed by the steady
spread of the deadly atom”
“Let both sides seek to invoke the
wonders of science instead of its
terrors.”
Background of the Speech: 5 Events
4. Vietnam 1951:
“…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.”
“To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break
the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help
themselves”
“Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and
South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?”
Background of the Speech: 5 Events
5. West Virginia 1960:
“For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms
of human poverty.”
“…to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains
of poverty.”
“…a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny,
poverty, disease, and war itself”
Background on the Speech: Historical
Figures
• JFK was extremely well read
– Known to read through speeches by Churchill and FDR for
entertainment
– Committed many of them to memory
• Wanted to make his speech as memorable and well received
as historical figures of the past, including:
– Abraham Lincoln
– Winston Churchill
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Rhetorical Tools
• Alliteration:
– “forebears fought”
– “bear any burden”
• Repetition:
– “To those…”
– “Let both sides…”
• Personification:
– American nation as “master of the house,” “the trumpet
summons us”
Rhetorical Tools Continued
• Antithesis: a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of
ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of,
or strongly contrasted with, each other, such as “hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all sins”
• Simplified complicated problems into simple choices providing a
framework in which Americans could understand them.
1. We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing
an end as well as a beginning, signifying renewal as well as change.
2. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
3. And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what
you can do for your country.
VOCABULARY
• COPY AND/OR REVIEW THE TERMS AND DEFINITIONS IN ANTICIPATION OF READING THE SPEECH.
• ANALOGY—A COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO THINGS BASED ON A SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE TWO
• CONTRAST—THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO OBJECTS, PEOPLE, OR PLACES
• LANGUAGE OF DEMAND OR URGENCY—LANGUAGE PROMOTING OR INSISTING ON A SWIFT
ACTION
• TONE—AUTHOR’S ATTITUDE AS EVIDENCED BY WORD CHOICE AND STRUCTURE
• RHETORICAL QUESTION –A QUESTION IN THE TEXT WHICH DOES NOT NEED TO BE ANSWERED
JFK’S MOON SPEECH
• FIRST READ: READ THE SPEECH INDEPENDENTLY. YOU MAY MARK AND ANNOTATE THE TEXT TO
AID COMPREHENSION. COMPLETE FIRST READ FOR HOMEWORK IF NOT COMPLETED IN
CLASS.