Rhetorical Analysis Of Obama's Inaugural Address

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The forty-fourth president, Barack Obama, in his 2009 Inaugural Address, describes the troubles that America is going through and how to bring it back to its former glory. Obama’s purpose is to inform the people of the United States, of what has become of America and how to restore it to how it once was. He adopts a compassionate tone in order to appeal to the citizens of the United States to help him in making the changes using ethos, patriotism, and pathos. Obama begins his Inaugural Address by thanking the nation and former President Bush for electing him into presidency. He moves to discuss how America always has a way of coming together in a time of need. He appeals to the emotions of the nation by saying “every so often, the oath is …show more content…
He states “it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor”(4). He then goes on to say “time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction”(5). Obama points this out to show that the people are what builds America, not the president. He creates a matter of fact tone in order to bring America to the edge of their seats and remind them that we can make this place better yet again, if we work together. Finally, Obama shifts to talk about the peace that comes with making peace with others. He says “we are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth”(11). He goes to prove it further by saying “that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace”(11). He creates a hopeful tone in order to bring out the emotions that he feels, what the nation feels. In his 2009 Inaugural address, Barack Obama informs the nation of the troubles that is going on by using ethos, patriotism, and