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The next speech will be a persuasive speech. Persuasive Speech Assignment The purpose of this assignment is to provide students with experience in persuasive speaking. This assignment is the culmination of the principles that have been examined in this course. Students are expected to present a persuasive message that is audience adapted, well-reasoned, clearly organized, and extemporaneously delivered. Select from one of the following types of persuasive speeches. These persuasive functions are discussed in the text. Adjusting listener attitudes, beliefs and values: The goal of this speech is to provide good reasons why audience members should adjust their attitudes, values or beliefs on a particular topic. Urging Action: This speech attempts to connect the inner world of the listener to some desired action. The action should be workable and provide some degree of solvency. Answering Opposing Views: In this type of speech, an advocate attempts to show why a prevailing belief, or viewpoint, is problematic. Each of these types requires the speaker to use evidence and reasoning in an appropriate manner. Procedures: The presentation should be 7-10 minutes in length. Speeches less than one min long will receive an incomplete and may be redone on Speech development day for a grade. If they are not redone on development day they will receive a zero. The presentation should be clearly organized. At least four credible sources should be identified in the text of the speech. A full sentence outline in APA format with reference page will be turned in on line. On the top of your outline identify the speech design you employed See the grading rubric for details on how this speech will be graded. Here is a short discussion on persuasion. Think about potential topics that you would like to persuade the audience about. Remember a good topic should be undersexed, meaning somersetting the audience has NOT already heard too much about. It should be a topic that the audience CAN NOT be persuaded about because they have deep value based beliefs on the subject and will not easily accept new information. It should be a topic that effects or interests your audience. Over the next few days you will watch and read about persuasion, Come back to this discussion board when you have one or more topic ideas and share them. I will give feed back.

Barack Obama’s Speech Critique

Jessica Macias

Porterville College

On January 12, 2011, Barack Obama, who is the President of the United States of America, delivered a speech by the title “Together we Thrive” during Tucson’s memorial service. It was held at Mckale Centre at the University of Arizona campus. The address was intended to commemorate the Tucson shooting victims of 2011. The speech had numerous themes that included themes of reconciliation and national unity. This paper will critique the speech and discuss some of the metaphors and content in the speech and also how the President delivered the speech to his audience. All literacy devices used while delivering his speech will also be identified and discussed in the paper.

As he delivered the speech, he looked so sober and composed just as any leader would be while addressing his followers. The crowd consisted of many university students who occasionally raised their voices to applause his as he spoke. He delivered his speech using a calm tone as he started. At times, he would raise the tone of his voice which portrays a characteristic of a good politician who wants to gain the attention of his audience and also while saying a critical point that he wants it to reach the audience well. He would raising his voice mostly while he speaking on civility of citizens and the importance of unity amongst citizens of the United States of America.

There are several pauses as he delivered his speech, and his audience gets a chance to applause him by raising their voices and cheering all over. The pauses then make him talk at an average speed rate, creating suspense in the air that ensured everyone was on board with his speech. Him being on the podium, restricted his movements, but he used gestures to deliver his speech, e.g., using his hands to explain his message. At times, Barack Obama also maintains eye contact with his audience and would go back to reading his speech from a script. By this, he was in a position to read the mood of his audience and able to deliver appropriately. He is also using facial expressions as he read the speech and shows that he is not happy about the incidence that happens. In the beginning, his facials can tell that the incidence was not good at all, and it brought a great loss to the nation.

In his speech, he said nothing he would say would fill the sudden hole in the hearts of the families (Myers, 2018). This expressed or showed that what had happened was a great loss, and it would not be compensated by anything, and he felt and understood it well. He also quoted a bible verse in Psalm 46, verses 4 and 5, which was to encourage families who had lost their loved ones. He also said that for a cause that defies human comprehension, it was so valid because what happened in Tucson was a threat to human comprehension.

He said that “We are reminded that the fleeting time we have on earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame but rather how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better,” (Kirk, 2018). I considered this remarkable because it fostered love and harmony among people, and would bring more love and solidarity among people.

The President also used several literacy devices while delivering his speech. He uses anaphora by severally repeating a phrase that “The scripture says,” which is an excellent example of anaphora. He also uses allusion types of literacy devices by keeping referring Bible verses as he delivered his speech. He also used imagery while delivering his speech when he said, “There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole in your heart,” to show that whatever happened in Tucson’s incident was not good at all. It was a great loss to the families affected and also the nation at large. The President’s literacy devices were very effective, and they helped him in quality, understandable, and enjoyable speech that he intended.

There are also scenarios where the President has used repetition as a literacy device while delivering his speech mostly like the word ‘everything,’ which at that point, he is repeating it to emphasize it to his audience. He also uses humor at points, for instance, when he is talking about Phyllis, a new Jersey native, saying that sometimes she would sew aprons with the Jets and Giants’ logos. He did this to remove his audience from the world of fantasy and bring them back to his speech.

The President also included metaphors and similes in his speech, and they were very effective in the speech. Some of them include; President Obama, who often tells the survivors, “You are heroes” to give them hope and overcome the tragedy and congratulate those who saved the lives of their colleagues during the tragedy. The President also said, “If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today,” To prove that there is a healthy and happy time in heaven and if that’s where he is, Christina will enjoy it.

Obama also said to the citizens,” You should not go seeking the high road,” which showed that he had not taken a political side in the political rhetoric and urged the citizens not to find easy answers for the tragedy (Myers, 2018). The President further says,” their sudden passing breaks our hearts. Our hearts are broken, and yet, our hearts also have a reason for fullness.” This helps the audience understand how severe and sad the loss was both for the families and the nation and encourage them and give them hope of betterment in the future by saying that their hearts still had reasons for fulfillment.

The paper has discussed or else analyzed a speech that President Barack Obama delivered during the memorial of Tucson’s tragedy and outlined all the verbal and non-verbal styles that he used while delivering the speech, the literacy devices he used in his speech and also the metaphors and similes used. The President represented his feelings and the citizens of the United States and showed that it was a great loss for them.

Reference

Myers, B. R. (2018). BARACK OBAMA,“ REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE SHOOTING IN TUCSON, ARIZONA”(12 JANUARY 2011). Voices of Democracy, 13, 24-36.

Kirk, J. W. (2018). Barack Obama’s Mass Shooting Eulogies: Tucson, Newtown, and Charleston as moral guideposts for a nation in crisis (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas).