The Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama's Tucson Memorial Address

In Obama’s “Tucson Memorial Address,” he addresses the tragedy of the shooting that occurred in Casas Adobes, Arizona, resulting in the death of six people. When he addresses the tragedy, he expresses that the violence that continues to occur is destroying the image that Americans have built for this country. Barack Obama uses the rhetorical techniques of pathos, anecdotes, and kairos to further emphasize his argument about the consistent rise of violence in the United States, relating to his other argument on how to reduce the violence. He utilizes pathos to inflict the emotions of sympathy and anger to inform his audience about the effect of violence. Obama then applies several anecdotes, specifically about the victims, throughout to emphasize …show more content…
Throughout the speech, he includes a story about each victim’s past life and humanizes them by informing the audience about their innocence. For example, he uses the story of Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard to not only humanize them, but also uses them as an example of how the lives of the innocent are taken away by violence. He states, “Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together about 70 years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed, they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy’s daughters put it, ‘be boyfriend and girlfriend again.’ … His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.” He includes this story to evoke anger and the emotion of sorrow in his audience. He includes the story of them getting back together to illustrate the fact that this tragedy has separated them once again. Another example of an anecdote he uses to further establish his pathos is the story about the nine-year-old girl named Christina Taylor Green. He often refers back to the story of Christina and her beliefs because Obama implicitly uses her as an example of innocence. Toward the end of his speech, he states, “She saw …show more content…
His consistent use of anecdotes throughout his speech connects the audience with the victims on a personal level, emphasizing his claim on how easily violence can impact others negatively. His use of pathos forces the audience to feel sympathetic and resentful, in hopes to inform them that such brutality continues to grow and persuade them to figure out ways to bring down its rate. Furthermore, his use of kairos emphasizes his claim of the rise of violence in the nation and how the government and the nation’s people are too ignorant to see the innocent lives that are taken away because of this rise. All three rhetorical devices that he utilizes in his speech aid his explicit and implicit purpose: to remember those who unwillingly died and lost their innocent lives, and to inform and change the audience’s mindset to prove that if the nation continues to be naive, more innocent lives will continue to be