Sunday, October 4, 2015

Rhetorical Analysis Thesis Proposal


            For my rhetorical analysis I'm planning on analyzing Reagan's and Romney's speeches.  While the speeches have some similarities, I felt that they both differed enough that I would be able to pull out opposites to compare and contrast.  While the overall exigencies of the two speeches differ quite dramatically - having a great effect on the way the speeches were written, given, and received - I feel that comparing similar rhetorical strategies will provide interesting analysis.
            Both speeches were primarily addressing Republicans but from different perspectives - defensive and offensive.  As mentioned above, considering the exigency of each speech is an important place to begin.  The respective primary audiences had to have had differing expectations - making the purpose of using similar strategies different overall.  However, even considering this, Reagan appears to have been the more effective speaker overall.
           
            I plan on approaching the analysis as follows:

Reagan -

Eloquence and morality - Shows he's educated but also relies on his faith in God.  Shows he understands the audience.  Effectively establishes trust from both believers and non-believers.

If - Then/Repetition - The reasoning is logical and he encourages the audience which effectively unifies and promotes action from them.

Imagery - Shows emotion and thus appeals to his audience's emotion which unifies their relation.

Personal/Biblical/Historical/Poetic Anecdotes - Establishes, appeals to, and logically proves beliefs and faith to be an important factor within national affairs.

Romney -

Personal beliefs/convictions - Establishes and presents beliefs in response to the audiences concerns.  Addresses concerns but could have been more specific.  Sort of vague.

Flips argument - Designed to allay concerns by addressing an underlying issue and unifying faith


Repetition/Equality - Establishes and compares faiths in hope for a unified result.

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