Rhetorical Analysis On General Macarthur

The Great Glorious General “The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training -- sacrifice”(Macarthur). General Douglas Macarthur gave an acceptance address when he received the Sylvanus Thayer award from West Point. In order for General Macarthur to qualify for this award, he couldn’t have attended West point, and did an outstanding job in the military. It was a significant moment for General Macarthur since he was one of the most famous General during his time, who was relieved of his duties by President Truman for speaking against Congress. He also proved to abide by the military motto of “Duty, Honor, Country.” In his speech, he wanted to rekindle the fire in all the current military service …show more content…
General Macarthur opens the eyes of many people by pointing out the truth and making people realize that the war is something dark, yet honorable. “However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind”(Macarthur). The use of metaphors is extremely important to what point he is trying to get across. It takes away the gory truth of suffering, and death, and is replaced by “ called upon” and “offer and to give his life.” He focuses on the good, but bringing out the words “noblest development.” This shrinks the fear of the audience by touching their hearts, and changes their emotion to being proud and ready for whatever they may face. He refers back to the motto Duty, Honor, Country many times to explain what all those words mean.“..to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep;”(Macarthur). He knows war is heartbreaking and a terrible thing, but there is always a silver lining to any situation. Laughing and happiness isn’t something associated with war, but one can still learn how to find happiness, but never ignore the bad because there is pain in everything. General Macarthur’s words are pure and true since he speaks from experience. The final, and most important strategy used in the speech is the style, and the way General Macarthur presented his overall speech. Throughout the entire speech, he refers back to Duty, Honor, Country to a total of seven times. On five other occasions, he has entire paragraphs that uses parallelism by starting each sentence with the same word then followed by a verb, so that he may make his point clear, and to stand

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