On August 19, 1992 Mary Fisher, an AIDS activist that has the disease herself, performs a speech titled “A Whisper of AIDS.” She addresses this speech to the Republican National Convention to raise awareness on the growing AIDS epidemic. She also addresses her speech to the ones who are currently living with AIDS and their close friends and relatives. By presenting this speech, she hopes to shed light on the truth of AIDS and show people that it does not know gender, race, or sexuality, and that it is not a punishment imposed on people by God for their “sinful actions.” Her usage of stylistic devices as well as the addition of personal stories and experiences from her life enhances the speech and allows it to resonate in not only the minds …show more content…
She explains to her audience, “I am one with the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind of his family’s rejection” (Fisher). The man that she fell in love with, married, and raised a child with was hiding his true sexuality up until this point. He cheated and transmitted this deadly disease unto her. Now they both are living unhappily; the two of them with an impending death sentence and him being deserted by his family. AIDS breaks and tears apart families, sometimes resulting in the abandonment of the diseased. Although she receives the love and support of her family, she too is still affected by the presence of AIDS; “My 84-year-old father...will not accept the premise that he cannot heal his daughter...My mother has refused to be broken” (Fisher). It is difficult for her family to accept the fact that she has AIDS and there is nothing they can do to help her but to let the disease run its course. They have remained strong thus far, but it does not change the fact that their daughter is slowly dying. Fisher recognizes and accepts that her time on earth is limited, and she explains, “I may not be here to hear their judgements, but I know already what I hope they are. I want my children to know that their …show more content…
She also uses powerful words in her speech that leave an impact on the audience, in addition to words that have similar meanings but sometimes different connotations. Fisher’s statement of, “This is not a distant threat; it is a present danger,” supports that AIDS is not a thing of the past nor a disease that is affecting people in a far away place. It is an epidemic that is occurring right in the United States, and has no end to its spread in the foreseeable future. In able to help insure that this message is received Fisher adopts a sense of desperation throughout her entire speech in hopes that the people listening will consider her words and embed them into their thoughts and future actions; “Whatever our role...we must act as eloquently as we speak else we have no integrity. My call to the nation is a plea of awareness.” She also makes sure to point out the difference between “compassion” and “pity.” Although the two words technically possess the same definition, which is to express sympathy towards another, the context that the words are used in and the association that is brought with them varies. “Pity” has a negative connotation attached to it because most use it in a way that makes the person they are referring to feel inferior, whereas having compassion for someone means that they
In her “The Tell-Tale Green Heart” (2013), Lisa Sanders asserted that throughout history no cardiac doctor has ever seen a green heart while operating on a human. Sanders supported her position by providing a medical case from the heart procedure that showed how the doctors identified a green heart. Sanders’ purpose was to inform older people about heart problems through a fact filled medical story in order to raise awareness about heart diseases. Given the informative language used in the article, Sanders was writing to an ill-advised audience with an alarming tone to notify her readers about their body.
Susie O'Brien's article 'It's time to honour gay couples and allow them to marry' (The Advertiser, November 20, 2010, p. 27) is arguing the side of pro-gay marriage in the debate of marriage equality. This argument is made using ethos, logos, pathos and suggestive language as to guide you to her side of the argument. Susie begins by talking about herself and her experience on the subject of whether or not she had a choice when growing up straight or gay. She demonstrates her knowledge on the topic by referencing her personal history; however not truly showing why her opinion should be listening to rather than others. Her argument is very personally based and draws examples such as herself and her family or friends.
In her speech, Elizabeth Glaser convinces people and leaders in America that they need to acknowledge and respect the real dangers of AIDS and the victims that have it. Glaser effectively uses ethos, repetition, and tone to convey this message to the audience. Elizabeth Glaser, the woman who brought awareness of AIDS, takes a stance based on her own experience with AIDS. In order to help the audience to believe her, at the beginning of her speech, Glaser tells the audience that she “Had unknowingly passed it to [her] daughter, Ariel, through [her] breast milk, and [her] son, Jake, in utero”. In order to build Elizabeth Glaser’s ethos, Glaser talks about how she and her children aren’t the “typical” or “expected” people to contract AIDS.
Her use of sarcasm and oxymorons challenge the audience’s sense of what is possible, which causes them to more deeply ponder the situation at hand. Florence Kelley wrote her speech with the intention of attacking the dangers of the country’s policies and in the hope of making a difference in the country’s
In an excerpt from The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, many rhetorical devices are used to fully represent the process of a scientist. Some of the most commonly used devices are metaphors, anaphoras, and imagery, these three devices help the reader understand the main ideas of the story. The metaphors allow the reader to perceive the process of a scientist in more simplistic ideas such as science being an undiscovered wilderness. The anaphora used in the beginning of the passage emphasises that the world of science is full of uncertainty and is constantly changing, this drives the idea into the mind of the reader. The imagery is used alongside the metaphors to assist the reader in grasping the foreign ideas.
The Prison Door In this Chapter from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne introduces the setting of the book in Boston. He uses a gloomy and depressed tone in the beginning of the chapter. He is able to convey this tone using imagery while describing the citizens, the prison, and the cemetery. However, as he continues to discuss the rose-bush, he uses parallelism to shift the tone to be brighter and joyful. To create a gloomy and depressed tone, Hawthorne uses imagery.
The Evolution of Chanda Although many people see people surrounded by AIDS as weak humans with loose morals and personality, there is another stand on AIDS. In Chanda 's Secret 's by Alan Stratton the unrelenting truth is revealed that everyone has a story, a situation, which matures the person or destroys them in a way that society try’s to categorize. Throughout the novel Chanda is the tool in which this is revealed through heart wrenching experiences and life lessons. Her strong compassion and convincing courage are unique quirks to her personality that show how she takes a stand in her AIDS infested community, as she changes the stereotype. .
Russell wrote a short story that took place at “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”. The parents of the girls sent them away to train to become a functional and civilized member of society and provide them with a better life than their werewolf parents could provide for them. In this book, Russell introduced each stage of change with an epigraph that described what the girls should be expected to complete in the stage. The epigraph furthers the reader 's knowledge by outlining what they should expect from the girls in each stage. It develops the girls as individual characters in a different manner than the stages do.
Clinton attempts to use propaganda, empathy, and logic to present her point, that women to her audience, and succeeds at it. Overall, the speech is balanced in its argument style and use of rhetoric, such as the factors mentioned above. At this point, Clinton was not a New York senator yet, but only First Lady, yet she used her position to go to conferences, such as this conference, and speak out for women’s rights, as they are the same as human
Puritan’s harsh beliefs represented the beginning of the Nineteenth Century in the newly colonized America. Their community ruled with an iron fist: unforgiving, pitiless, stern. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses his disagreement with puritan priorities by revealing the hypocrisy widely practiced throughout their community. Hawthorne’s utilization of dim diction aids in the establishment of his scornful tone, while inclusion of symbols and intricate juxtaposition all serve to accentuate the Puritan’s duplicity. All these factors combine to develop a critical tone which rebukes puritan society.
Josie Appleton’s piece opens with her introducing the fact that body modification has lost its mark of being taboo. Appleton then transitions into describing the different kinds of people that modify their bodies and why they do it. The fact that people used to mostly use tattoos to identify with a group and are now using them to define themselves is heavily enforced. The rest of the piece describes in great detail the different ways people use piercings and tattoos to better understand themselves and mark important milestones. The piece concludes with Appleton claiming that body modification should only be for fashion, because bringing significance to it causes problems.
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? (79)”, this quote is from the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
Fisher uses powerful diction and word choice to bring the secretive disease into the light. Through her speech, “A Whisper of AIDS”, Fisher uses fear inducing logistics and powerful emotional images to sway her audience. She showed the world that the HIV virus does not strictly target homosexual men. People of all backgrounds are effected. Her speech brought about funding and increased
Oprah’s display as an orator should not go unnoticed. Throughout the entirety of her delivery, Oprah projects herself with a clear, calm, and strong yet soft emphasis. Oprah maintains stern eye-contact with the audience, and presents herself in a strong, iron-body demeaner. These oratorical techniques coincide to further captivate the audience and continue to ease the audience into the persuasion of the viewpoint presented in her speech. Given controversies of sexual assault in recent times, as well as ideas of feminism and female
Sentence Assessment Task Rhetorical Analysis: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” (Austen) Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) Austen’s famous statement on marriage and equality continues to resonate in modern society. In comparison to today, the Victorian era significantly suppressed women’s rights (Hughes). However, Austen juxtaposes that idea by stating that it is the man, no matter how wealthy, who ‘must be in want of a wife.’