Introducing the rhetoric of narratives with Barack Obama's Of Thee I Sing (original) (raw)
Related papers
Barack Obama's 2009 speech on health care reform, given to Congress, will likely go down as one of the most important talks during his time as American president. The purpose of the speech was as clear as it was challenging: to sway opinions of the mediators of change, members of the House and the Senate, in order to make them vote in favor of the Obama administration's ambitious plan for a thorough reform of the health care system. Toward the end of the speech, after having presented the content of the reform as well as reinforced and refuted arguments for and against it, Obama turns to narrative. He does so by telling what might seem like two very different stories: The first is about Obama's recently deceased friend Ted Kennedy, who "shared" his lifestory with Obama in the form of a "letter […] to be delivered upon his death". This private and non-fictional narrative about insights gained at the end of a long life resembles a classic retrospective story, complete with direct speech in the form of quotes from Kennedy's letter. Compared to the manifest corporeality of this protagonist the other story deals with less tangible matter. It is about "the American character" and rather than relating the specific experiences of a specific person in a specific situation it deals with the idea or notion of what it means to be or act like an American. Rather than a specific chain of situated events, it is concerned with what Obama calls "the history of our progress".
From the DNC to Normandy – Obama’s use of Narrative in Ten Speeches 2004-2014
One of Obama’s favorite rhetorical devices is personal narrative. In this paper examples from ten speeches delivered over the last decade are presented and discussed. From the Keynote Address delivered at the 2004 Democratic National Convention to his more recent speech at the Normandy American Cemetery at Omaha Beach we see how Obama uses personal narrative to connect with his audience, inspire them and advance his agenda.
Political Narrative : A Never Ending Rhetorical Tool
Cahiers du Centre de Linguistique et des Sciences du Langage
This case study presents two pieces of data taken from the third debate which took place during the presidential election held in the United States of America in 2008 and which had as main opponents the Democratic Senator Barack Obama and the Republican Senator John McCain. The analysis of the data is based on two narratives provided by the candidates during their interventions. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, to investigate the reasons why these candidates used narratives during their interchange and, on the other hand, to question their narratives' truth-value relative to the images they present. In brief, what impact these narrative may have had on electors and which images the senators wanted to encapsulate in them.
Narrative as rhetoric: Technique, audiences, ethics, ideology
1996
In Narrative as Rhetoric, James Phelan explores the Preface xiii Preston. These people have each provided crucial material support and invaluable criticism and advice; without them, this book would be a lesser thing. To Peter J. Rabinowitz, I owe a special thanks: he read it all-much of it more than once-with a wonderful combina tion of generosity and rigor, and then took the time to walk me through his responses. In short, he exemplified what it means to enter into an authorial audience without losing oneself in the process. Fi nally, I am thankful for the rhetorical community in which I find most favor, that provided by my wife, Betty Menaghan, and our two chil dren, Katie and Mike; this one is for all of you. Different versions of the following chapters have appeared, in whole or in part, in the following publications. I thank all of them for permis sion to reprint. Chapter 1 as "Character and Judgment in Narrative and in Lyric: Toward an Understanding of Audience Engagement in The Waves."
Persuit, 2024
Barack Obama weaves a sequence of his personal story rhetorically to evoke American national ethos, with a special emphasis on American values making them an integral part of his memoirs, especially his The Audacity of Hope (2006). This paper interrogates why he narrates the story of typical American values in his political memoir in general and ascertain them in a dedicated section titled 'Values' in particular to explore the implicit dimensions of his storytelling. Form the theoretical parameters of Walter R Fisher's 'narrative paradigm' this paper contends that, by way of recognizing (assimilating or internalizing) typical American values, Obama prepares a ground for Fisher's 'narrative rationality' to identify himself with American character and American people, and thereby evokes American national ethos to assume a statesmanship.
Transformative Rhetoric- How Obama Became the New Face of America - A Linguistic Analysis
His brilliant use of rhetoric made Obama the face of 21 st century America. His ability to portray himself as the embodiment of the American dream and to relate to the stories of other Americans brought many to support his candidacy. This article presents a discussion of his use of personal narrative, stories, repetition, metaphors, clichés, audience involvement, and humor with illustrative examples from Obama's most memorable speeches.
Symposium: Barack Obama's Significance for Rhetoric and Composition
This symposium reaches print as the US electoral machinery—thus far, the bizarre and often troubling marketing campaigns of both party primaries—whirs and spins and thuds into high gear. This coming autumn, in November 2016, voters throughout the United States (and writing in from abroad) will cast ballots, offering guidance to an Electoral College that, by tradition, will adhere to that guidance in selecting a president. Next winter, in January 2017, the “Age of Obama,” called such appreciatively or derisively, will come to an end. This symposium, “Barack Obama’s Significance for Rhetoric and Composition,” aims to provoke and renew disciplinary conversations about the meaning of an age now nearly past, as well as to pose questions that resonate for presidential rhetoric generally.
In 2004, the American nation was introduced to the formidable rhetorical skills of the then Senator Obama with his delivery of the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. The skills on display then have only grown and developed throughout the years leading to his successful presidential campaign of 2008. This paper addresses the various rhetorical devices that Obama uses so expertly: The use of personal narrative, repetition, metaphors, clichés, questions, opposites and so on. It is the various combinations of these devices that make reading or hearing an Obama speech such a rhetorical pleasure.