analysis

Linking words for your Analysis:

https://www.abiweb.de/englisch-methoden/methodisches-vorwissen-uebersicht/linking-words-formulierungen-argumentation.html

Stylistic devices:

https://freie-referate.de/englisch/stylistic-devices-stilistische-mittel

Sophie

On the 4 September 2012, Michelle Obama the former First Lady spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. In her speech she appeals to the people that the American Dream may be hard to achieve but it is possible. From line 1-18 she speaks about her positive experiences with American people during her 1st years as First Lady. She evoke pride in the audience and reflects her hope and optimism. In the part line 19 – 47 Michelle refers to her old life when her family was not wealthy but her dad gave her the chance to go to college. She also mentions the parallels of Barack and her growing up. They have the same social background. This way the audience can bond with her and she motivates them to keep going. This also shows that the American Dream is achievable even though you might not have enough money. | The next paragraph is from line 48-108 she speaks about the importance of work to get success. She also explains what her values are and refers to the inequalities at workplaces for man and woman. Michelle lists up the achievement in Barack’s position as president which are related to his own personal experiences. With this topics she tries to motivate the audience to get a job and that they have hope in the politics. | The paragraph from line 109-153 shows her values of the elements of the American Dream. The parallels to her family she uses to show that the American Dream is a process, a way that is worth going. Michelle also mentions counter arguments/objections. This shows that she is not ignorant but determined to fight them. To underline her arguments she uses several stylistic devices. Though the whole text she makes use of the personal pronoun “I” to make the speech more personal and to make the audience feel more at ease/comfortable because the speech does not sound so formal but rather familiar. Michelle uses other personal pronouns like “we” and “you” too to include the audience and to arouse the feeling of solidarity. She also uses enumerations like “their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go to places” (ll.23-25) they are showing the amount of values that their parents gave them. It also emphasizes that she is respecting everyone. “They didn’t … they admired …” (ll.63-66) is a repetition and is used to draw attention to her own personal experiences. The parallelism “you do not slam it shut behind you… you reach back” (l. 120) is used to underline the dependence on other peoples help. Michelle also used the quote “I may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will … maybe my grandchildren will” (ll.139f) to motivate the audience especially woman to fight for what they want. She employs a lot of positive and optimistic words like “honesty and integrity” (l.79) in her speech to give people hope that the American Dream is still achievable. She often uses long sentences though no complex syntax. Her frequent use of verbs in the past tense like “learned” (l.79) shows what they have already achieved and what their common experiences are. Adjectives are used to help her illustrate her main ideas and make her speech more creative. To reflect how americans usally talk and so there is no distance between the speaker and the listeners she uses short forms like ”I’ve, weren’t, it’s”. Her tone during her speech is very positive. Motivating and sometimes emotional. All in all Michelle Obama uses good stylistic devices, a simple syntax and a positive and optimistic tone.

Jennifer

The political speech First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. , which is spoken by Michelle Obama and hold at the 4. September 2012 underlines the positive and negative sides of reaching for the American Dream. The speech is about the view of First Lady Michelle Obama in context to the American Dream and how to get each life in a better way. She says facts about the American history and the ups and downs they had to live with. She tells her life as an example for reaching the American Dream. The speech shows the effect of living in America today and how the people hope for their own dreams. She points out her facts of being motivated to search for this together as a nation without any limits of your religion and so on. She also helps them to fight for their dreams and to live in togetherness. So in the first part of her speech Michelle Obama begins with an introduction in which she immediately names how proud she is of her country and to be able to speak in front of so many people ( cf. l.1-4 ). It refers to the appropriation each person should give to the other as ‘unconditional love ‘ ( l. 23 ) and wants to say that it is for justice and above all a respectful treatment of people with each other and supports this. She also wants to appeal at the audience that everybody, especially the kids and grandkids should have a chance to go to college and to achieve their dreams. At this point she mentions the point of view from her husband Barack Obama and that he lived his life in a hard way with not much money, reaching for his dreams and that this is one of the most important things in life. To hope and to do something for it. He knows what it means to pursue the American Dream and the desire to be happy and content to live. To give an example she says ‘ He knows what it means to want something more for your kids and grandkids ‘ ( l. 112-114 ). This underlines his social character and that everybody should give their kids the opportunity to live their life the good way and to fight for their own American Dream. The anaphora ‘ Because Barack knows… ‘ ( l. 110 ) and ‘ He knows ‘ ( l. 112 ) shows this again. Michelle Obama has the opinion, that everyone ‘ whether you ‘re a Democrat, a Republican or none of the above ‘ ( l.128 ) that everybody in this country has the chance to work and to have a good job, not necessary if they are young or old, man or woman. The line 107 to line 109 ‘ jobs … good jobs ‘ with the stylistic device of an amplification demonstrates this as well. Above all, it emphasizes , that children should be improved so that even more people follow their longings. With the use of personal pronouns like ‘ I ‘ ( l. 44 ) or ‘ You ‘ ( l. 92 ) she reaches the attention of the audience and makes the speech informal, so that the people feel understood and could follow her easier. But she not only things about living the dream, she also reminds the audience of the problems and bad sides of America, so that the readership knows that she is not only focused on the positive things that happen. She concentrates on the hard way, America had to deal with, to be the country like it is today ( cf. l. 150-153 ) and that there were times of fearness but that they can do something against it together. This has the effect that the speech gets more emotional. To sum up, she wants the audience to stand up and fight for their dreams and to rise for the chance to have a better life.

Kristin

On the 4th September Michelle Obama held a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. In her Speech she talks about a modern version of the American Dream and encourages her audience to not lose hope in it. She starts of by mentioning experiences from her past years the as First Lady (l. 5 - 10). In this paragraph she uses the anaphora “I have“ to underline her experiences and to show her optimism that the American Dream is still achievable. She uses another anaphora “Barack knows“ (l.110-114) this further strengthens the connection to the audience and helps them to feel like someone understands their struggles with the American Dream. In line 161 she makes an allusion to Martin Luther King “lift us to the Mountaintop“ by using a sentence associated with Martin Luther King she evokes a very hopeful image in the listeners mind. Because Martin Luther King fought for his dream and he achieved it. This gives the audience a sense of security in achieving their own dreams. She shows what her expectations of the American Dreams are in the paragraph from line 74 to line 90 by doing this she gives her listeners an idea of what her goals and ambitions are. The First Lady aslo uses a lot of personal prouns such as “we“ or “you“ this makes her speech much more personal and creates a comfortable atmosphere for the audience. Throughout Speech M. Obama also uses optimistic and hoopeful words such as “dignity and decency“ (l. 79). These help the audience regain trust in the American Dream. Her choice of wordsis informal as she uses abbrevations which is typical for an oral speech and long sentences though no complex syntax. Through her way of speaking, her speech is easier to understand and therfore it is more accessible. All of this gives her speech a very motivational and optimistic tone which makes the audience feel very supportive towards the First lady. To conclude by making her speech accessible to a lot of people and connecting to the audience. Throughout it she gives the audience a sense of hope that the American Dream is real and achievable.

Lea

The speech by Michelle Obama on the 4th september 2012 at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte N.C is about the American Dream. Michelle talks about her experiences with people who expressed her as she was First Lady. Then she explain to the audience that Barack and her were raised on the same way: their family had not much money, so the parents had to work a lot to give their kids a chance of a good life. She wants her audience to know that everyone has a chance to live the American Dream if they work hard for it. All in all Michelle try to give the people hope that the American Dream is achievable and uses her own experiences to make the message clear.

As I have pointed out in the first part of my composition, the speaker Michelle Obama wants her audience to know that everyone has a chance of a good life by working for it. In order to bring this message across she uses several rhetorical devices, which are going to be analysed in the following. At the beginning of her speech she uses the personal pronoun “I” (l.2), which make the speech more personal and interesting because the audience feels involved and welcome because she talk about her own experiences with them. Besides it is not that formal, it is rather familiar. It goes on in line eight, eleven and fourteen with the repetition “I have seen” or “I’ve seen”. It really draws attention to her own experience in life like what kind of people she met, so the listeners notice it more. “You” (l.19) is the second used personal pronoun in her speech, which is a direct address and a appeal to the audience for fighting. So she wants them to understand that they have to fight or to work hard for their dreams. Another used personal pronoun is “we” (l.165). It has the effect that the audience feels involved, so they know that they are humans like Michelle who can work and have success with the same chances. Altogether Michelle Obama uses an informal language which make the speech easier to understand and more sympathic because it reflects the normal spoken language of the Americans. To motivate the audience and give them hope or the chance of positive thinking she uses several optimistic words like “proud” (l.34), “success” (l.41) and “humility” (l.84). To conclude Michelle Obama uses some rhetorical devices like personal pronouns or also repetitions to make clear that every person can have success through working with the consequence of having a chance to live the typical American Dream. She knows that it is a hard way but wants to give the audience the needed motivation and hope, so she uses many positive words, which increase the message.

Vanessa

The speech given by the former First Lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. on 4 September 2012, deals with the progess of achieving the American Dream by refering to her own experiences. Her purpose is to persuade the large audience, which might be enthusiastic national citizens which have the common vision that everybody can achieve their aims.

In the first few lines the speaker informs the audience about her positive experiences with people in America during her first year as First Lady to evoke pride in the audience by refelecting her hope and optimism for this country. Furthermore, she continues to relate to her and Barack´s parallels of growing up with the same social family background, what builds a connection to approach to the listeners. In addition to that she explains with reference to her own childhood that the most important ideal is love and good relations. Besides, she makes clear that the effort of working leads to success whether you might not have enough money in reference to her family. In context to that she lits up the achievements in Barack´s policies as president which are related to his own personal experiences. So far she wants to motivate people to get a job, to consider the values during their worthgoing process and to remind of being solidary. Later on, she mentiones counterarguments, what shows that she is not ignorant of these but determinate to fight them and to spread hope and power to the audience. Finally, she states positives examples of people who did not seem able to realize the America Dream to appeal the listeners to go on fighting for the American Dream.

Throughout her speech Michelle Obama employs a number of stylistic devices to emphasize her point of view. First of all, it is quite obviously that she tries to direct address the audience to let them feel more involved by the permanent use of the personal pronoun “you“(ll.19,38,etc.). In context with the American Dream the First Lady appeals the audience to fight for their aims and dreams. She further emphasize that she is respecting everyone without any limits regarding to the enumeration in lines 117 – 118 that your heritage or nationatily is not preventing you from achieving your aims regarding to the equals rights for same possibilities for everybody. She then goes on drawing attention to her experiences by the use of the parallelism “We learned about“(ll. 74,79,84) to point out the values which guide them to achieve the American Dream. Thus she makes clear by using the alliteration “ dignity and decency“(l. 74) that everybody should keep those values in mind as guidline to reach your own state of satisfaction and to fulfill your dreams. In addition to that she is direct addresssing the listeners by the use of the personal pronoun “We“( 74,79,88) to arouse a feeling of solidarity and to effect a personal atmosphere between her and the audience. Further she reminds the audience of the success of the country that they effort and hope can “lift (them) to the mountaintop“(ll 161-162). In context to that it is another motivation to keep on fighting for their aims and to work hard to reach their destination.

Regarding to her use of informal language it is becoming clear that she makes use of short forms what shows that she is refelecting how the Americans usually talk. Due to that fact, it is easier to understand and to identify with her. Futhermore, she employs lots of positive and optimistic words that give people hope to still achieve the American Dream. In addition to that is obiviously that she uses long sentences although they do not include much complex for example when she is repeating a fact in several phrases(ll.19, 44-45) Addionally, it is apparently that she is connecting the American Dream with aspects like “success“(41,82) and “values“(91, 88) what shows that the choice of words effects that the message of the text is standing in a positiv light. Besides, she uses verbs in the past tense purposely to relate on what they have already achieved and her experiences ( e.g.we learned). At the same time she makes use of positiv and optimistics adjectives which help to illustrate her main ideas and to make her speech more creativ for example to decribe the American dream as a “slow“(l.134) change to stress that it is a long process which is still alive and reachable. With regard to her tone of her speech it can be said that the light of the speech is overall really positive for example when she includes the “unwavering hope“(l.170) in context that the Americans can reach everything by keep on working hard. In addition to that she is very motivating and optimistic and hopeful as well by reflecting their achieved values (ll.74-90) and the achievements from Barack´s politics for equal rights and conditions (ll. 94-108). In some way she is also emotional when she is speaking about her family.

In general I have come to the conclusion that the speech of Michelle Obama is really motivating especially if you as citizen do not have achieved the American Dream. I could imagine that she is an idol for many people out there because she reaches her aims from the middle class up to her position. All in all the speaker is conving and persuadinf in her vision to spread hope for the American Dream.

Alexandra

The speech given by the former First Lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention, N.C. on 4 September 2012 deals with her own experience of achieving the American Dream and that everyone can reach it too.

In the first few lines of the speech, she shares her own experience and wants to motivate the audience. Moreover, she has the same background, which has a connection to the listeners. In addition, she shows that the help you get from others people helps you to reach your goals. Despite, she makes the audience consider of the values and to stay hopeful. At least she mentions that even the unequal people can reach the American Dream.

First she uses the personal pronoun "I" (l. 2) to feel more comfortable with the audience and that it sounds more familiar. Moreover, she shows with enumeration"their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves"(ll. 23-25) that this is very important and an amount of advantages. And the audience should know that the support of the family is very important to reach your own goals. By the use of the repetition"he'd"(ll. 45f.) she emphasizes that it is better to memorize and even your family work hard, what you should do too. The metaphor"many people had a hand in our success"(ll. 85f.) is useful for a better understanding and it underlines that the help and cooperation is what you need to reach your destination. With the personal pronoun"You"(l.66) she wants to involve the audience and appeals them for fighting on. By the use of the parallelism"he knows"(ll. 110ff.) she emphasizes that she shares the same experience with the community, in order to build a connection to them. It also motivates the audience to fight for their aims and that they should stay hopeful. At least, it becomes clear that she makes use of the allusion "lift us to the mountain" (ll. 161f.) to stresses out that the hope and effort will lead to success l. And it should motivate them to work hard for achieving their goals.

Regarding to her use of informal language it is obviously that she makes use of short forms with the reasons that it is an oral speech and to be more familiar with the audience. In that context she speaks how the Americans usually talk. It also should support a better understanding and that the audience can identify with her. In addition, she uses lots of positive words to give the audience power and hope to achieve the American Dream.

However, she is not including complex sentences and makes lots of repetition(ll. 45-46). Additionally, it is apparently that the listeners connect the American Dream with "success" (l. 41) and "values" (ll.74,79,84). So far the text get in a positive light. At least, she uses the past tense to make clear what they already have achieved or experienced. Overall, it is a positive and optimistic speech to motivate the Americans. Besides she is very emotional, referring to her own experience.

All in all, I come to the conclusion that the speech is really motivating and lets the audience stay hopeful. And she points out that the American Dream is still reachable for everyone even you have hard times. The hard work and solidarity matters to make the American Dream true.

Lennart

Michelle Obama, former First Lady held a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte at the 4th September 2012. In her speech she addresses the people who have troubles achieving the American dream. She starts her speech with telling all the listeners how many good experiences she collected with Americans during her 1st year as first Lady. She starts her speech with telling the audience how proud she is to speak in front of so many people(l.1-4). With this praise she awakened pride in the audience and shows that she has hope for the many people who have non. She wants to encourage people to climb the ladder to the American dream to reach all of their dreams regardless of their origins or religion or social rank or wealth. Thats why she talks about hers and Barrack Obamas life and how they lived the American dream. In the lines 48.108 she tells the audience how important a job and hard work is. She speaks about the importance of work to get success. She also sazs what her values are and refers to the inequalities for man and woman at work. She lists the achievements of Barrack Obama as President and what he did for his country. With the stroz of Bar

Nadja

The American Dream in a political Speech

This Speech was spoken by Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte N.C on the 4th September 2012 and is about the American Dream and how she, her husband and her Family achieved it.

In the beginning of the Text you find anaphoras, for example “I’ve seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family” (l.8-10), “I’ve seen it in teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching without pay” (l.11-13) and “I’ve seen it in people who become heroes at moments notice,...” (l.14-15). Here she explains that the American spirit is still alive and she sees it everywhere she goes. It makes the audience emotional, which also makes Michelle Obama bonding with her listeners, because they think about what those people are doing and what a great nation they are. In her Speech, Obama also used Listing “You see, Barack and I were both raised by families who didn’t habe much in the way of money or material possesions but who had given us something far more valuable - their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go to places they had never imagined for themselves.” (l.19-25) which makes the listeners relate to the Obamas. Many of them may also be raised by people, who hadn’t had much, but by people who fightet for a great future for their kids. This also may make many people in the audience emotional, because they realize how lucky they are and how greatful they need to be. Last but not least Michelle Obama also uses a lot of Repetition. For example “If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire ... if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores ... if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote ... if a generation could defeat a depression,...” (l.154-167) which makes the audience believe, that they can be who they want to be and survive everything under Barack’s presidency. She motivates them and also shows her listeners, that everyone goes through tough times, but Americans always survived it. All in all you can say, that Michelle Obama’s Intention by giving this speech was showing, that Barack and her not far from the average American by connecting with the audience, explaining to them, how they may archive their dreams,motivate them and also to promote her husbands campaign

Katja

The political speech delivered by the former First Lady Michelle Obama on the 4th September 2012, at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte N. C. deals with the general idea of the American dream. She appeals to her audience to never give up and to work hard for their dreams.

Michelle Obama uses short forms and no complex syntax in her speech, to build no distance between her and her listeners. She wants that everyone, understands her message. She starts out with a reference to her positive experiences with american people during her first years as First Lady. It reflects her hope and optimism for America and evokes pride in her audience. The use of the repetition “I have seen … I have seen” (ll. ) points out that the American Dream still exists. Later on she uses the pronoun `I´ to make the speech more personal. The listeners feel more comfortable, because the speech does not sound so formal, but rather be familiar. In the following paragraph(ll. 19-25) she mentions, that she and her husband grew up with less money. With saying that both of them was loved by their families, she points out, that relations are more important than materalism. In this way she shows parallels to her husband by having the same family background and build also a bond to her audience, because many of them havent got much money. She emphasizes, that the American Dream is achievable although you have less money. Furthermore the use of the pronoun “You” (l.19) is a direct address to the listeners, which include them and arouses a feeling of solidarity. In this way she wants to motivate them, that they have to fight for their aims. Next she describes, that her dad worked very hard to give his children a good education and the chance of a good life. She wants that the people understand, that being able to support their families is part of the American Dream. From l. 72 to l.93 she explains, that they learned much from the people they met. The anaphora “ We learned” (ll. ) highlights the importance of the given values. With the used metaphor “people had a hand on ours” she draws attention, that helping each other is necessary to become successful. The last part describes how their experiences have got an impact on their political ideas. By listing up the achievements of Obamas politic, she give hope to the audience, that they are changing something. This enumeration of positive examples should effect, that the citizen vote again for Barack Obama. The allusion to the american history “blacksmiths could win independence” (ll.) shows what they already did, that they make the impossible possible. It makes the listeners proud to belong to this strong nationality. In lines .. you can find the repetition ”surely”, which underline her message again. She employs lots of positive words to give people hope, that the American Dream is still achievable. Also she uses many adjectives, which help to illustrate her main ideas of working hard and respecting each other. It makes her speech more creative.

To sum it up, the speech of Michelle Obama is very emotional, especially for Americans. She build a strong connection to her listeners, to illustrate her message, that the American Dream is achievable for everyone, no matter which social background you belongs to.

Jonas

Michelle Obamas Speech

In her speech, at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, Michelle Obama shows how she and Barack grown up and the values their parents teached them.

In the beginning she talked about her personal experiences as First Lady (l.2 “I have had“). She underlines these experiences with a parallelism (l.7-11 “I have seen … I have seen … I have seen“), these experiences show that she is like every American and that she knows about their situation. Obama also uses emotive language (l.14 “heroes“), witch reminds that the American Dream has to do with emotions. The use of personal pronouns like you and we (l.72) give them the feeling to be involved and that they belong together. Her speech it is very easy to understand because of short forms Obama uses. Because of these short forms the Americans can also identify with her because she talks like them (l.14 “I‘ve seen“). She also employs many positive words to her speech, that seems to be very optimistic and motivates the people to believe in the American dream. Obama often uses repetitions so it is very easy to understand and to follow her speech. The use of adjectives (l.42 “decent living“) helps to illustrate the main idea of her speech and makes the speech more interesting. She ends her speech by saying that she really likes America and making hope to the people (l.169-171).

All in all you can say that Michelle Obama really tries to motivate the audience to believe in the American dream, by her use of rhetorical devices and line of argumentation.

18

Analysis

The text at hand is a speech held by Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States of America, at the Democratic National Convention (Charlotte, N.C.) on the 4th of September 2012. The speech deals with the American Dream and appeals to every American citizen. Its main purpose is to provide the people of America with hope concerning the achievability of the American Dream. In order to accomplish that, Obama starts off by talking about her and her husband’s life experiences, alluding to the American Dream. Furthermore, she mentions Barack Obama’s politics pointing out his reasons for establishing certain policies. Obama also refers to America’s history regarding important accomplishments, which have changed life in America. Obama begins her speech by saying that “as First Lady (…) (she) ha(s)(…) had the extraordinary privilege of travelling all across this country” (ll. 1ff.). By opening the speech mentioning her role as “First Lady” (ll. 1f.) Obama appeals to her authority in order to get everybody’s attention and respect. Obama pointing out that she has had the “extraordinary privilege of travelling” (ll. 2f.) through America makes her appear as experienced and grateful and overall as someone who has seen the situation in America herself and who hence knows America and its people, which is furthermore emphasized by an anaphora ( “I’ve seen it” (ll. 11, ll. 14)), when referring to her experience travelling and to the “American spirit” (ll. 7), which she claims to have seen. This alludes not only to her knowledge of America as a whole, but also to her solidarity with the American citizens, which is highlighted as Obama points out that “like (for) so many of us” (ll. 40) the ability of gaining enough money to support his family “was the measure of his success in life” (ll. 40f.). Later on there is a repetition of the phrase “like so many”, however, instead of using the exact same phrase (“like so many of us” (ll. 40)), Obama now refers to “American families” (ll.61), which stresses the similarities between Obamas family and other “American families” (ll.61). This also promotes unity, solidarity and even credibility. Obama continues mentioning similarities between her and her family and the average citizen (eg. ll. 110f.) in order to emphasize named aspects. Furthermore, Obama talks about Barrack’s politics. She briefly explains that Barack “is thinking about folks like my (her) dad and like his grandmother” (ll. 95f.), who Michelle previously described as people who “believed in that fundamental American promise that, even if you don’t start out with much, if you work hard and do what you’re supposed to do, then you should be able to build a decent life for yourself and (…) for your kids and grandkids” (ll. 66 ff.), hence people who believe in the American Dream when creating his policies. This shows that he supports and promotes equal opportunities regardless of financial status, which is the central topic of the American Dream. (This is highlighted by an anaphora stating that “That’s why” (ll. 99, 102) he created certain policies.) Finally, Michelle Obama talks about America’s history in terms of important accomplishments reached after facing difficult challenges. She names these events in form of an enumeration (ll. 154-165), which shows the quantity of these successes. This may provide the audience with a sense of pride, motivation and hope that even more is possible, such as giving everyone “a fair chance at that great American Dream” (ll. 166f.). She finally ends her speech saying that the story of America is one “of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle”, which may also achieve the effect of pride and hope. This last impression of the speech also represents the general tone of the speech, which is rather motivational. This is supported by specific word fields including words such as “success” (ll. 41), “chance” (ll. 24) or the term “doorway of opportunity” (ll. 121). Further words that are commonly used are personal pronouns such as “us” and “you”, which are examples of inclusive language being used. The general language of the speech is also rather informal to make all citizens feel addressed and it employs many positive words, which serve the purpose of providing hope to the people. In conclusion it can be said that this analysis reveals the central message of the political speech by Obama to be that everybody should be able to achieve the American Dream and that the speech at hand is supposed to provide Americans with hope and motivation to fight for that cause.

Vera

The speech by First Lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte on September 4th 2012 is about the importance oft the American Dream, which consists of hope and having the possibilityto work hard for one’s dreams. The speaker Michelle Obama presents the importance of the American Dream. In order to bring this message across, she uses several rhetorical devices, which are going to be analyzed in the following. By employing the anaphora ‘‘I have seen […] I’ve seen‘‘ (ll.5-14), Michelle Obama draws attention to the fact that she describes her personal experience. She underlines this aspect by using more anaphoras (ll.74 & ll.110) to inform the audience about the different lessons she was risen up with and how the American Dream affects her. Furthermore, she builds up a connection tot he listeners and accentuates another important fact, which includes that she and her husband have many similar problems as other Americans, which forms a feeling of being one nation. In ordert o underline this, the First Lady uses the enumeration ‘‘You see, Barack and I wer both raised by families […] who had given us […] their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go pkaces they had never imagined for themselves‘‘ (ll.21), to show the extent of how positive her chiuldhood influenced her in her personality. Connected to this ist he comparism ‘‘We get there because of folks like my Dad […]‘‘ (l.137), to illustrate her gratitude and additionally refer tot he emotions oft he audience. Another stylistic device Michelle Obama is uses, ist he enumeration ‘‘I’ve seen it in people who become heroes at a moment’s notice, diving into harm’s way to save others…flying across the country to put out a fire…driving for hours to bail out a flooded town.‘‘ (ll.14) which awares the extent oft he many different good deeds of people and to impress the people listening to her. During this enumeration, she uses the word ‘‘heroes‘‘ (l.14). With this emotive language, Obama appeals tot he emotions oft he audience and gives her speech a generally personal touch. By using the metaphor ‘‘And he believes that when you’ve worked hard, and done well and walked through that doorway of opportunity…you do not slam it shut behind you…you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed‘‘ (ll.120) she employs one oft the most essential aspects that the American Dream includes, which is to use the chance you have and not just work hard but also remember the others and helping them is what forms a community. Furthermore, the First Lady uses several pronouns like ‘‘I‘‘ (l.2) or direct address ‘‘You see, […].‘‘ (l.38) and ‘‘Those are the values Barack and I – and so many of you […]‘‘ (ll.91), to appeal to the readers and form a relation to them. In regards to this it seems as if she shares a part of her life with the people who are listening to her speech. Additionally, the audience can identify itself as a part oft he American Dream and as one nation. Michelle Obama uses the enumeration ‘‘And […] that when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity […]‘‘ (ll.119), she emphasizes a essential aspect which includes hard work to make one’s dream reality and to achieve one’s goals in the future. To underline this and to motivate, especially the women she employes the quote ‘‘I may not have a chance to fulfill my dreams, but maybe my children will…maybe my grandchildren will‘‘ (ll.139) to appeal to the relevance the family has in the life of most people and also to make her speech more vivid. Another stilistic device she includes is another anaphora (ll.154) in which she refers back tot he history oft he farmers and blacksmiths and also the immigrants to let the audience remember how important the American Dream was during the past, which is also supported by using the illusion about Martin Luther King (l.133).

All in all you can say that Michelle Obama tries to include the audience and gives hope in Society, especially for the women.