Speech To The Virginia Convention Speech Analysis

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We all take on a number of different roles. Some of these are personal and others are work-related. The significance of the roles we take is how it affects people or the environment. Some may think their role is to be successful for personal gain while others are more willing to help people achieve their goals. Whatever choice people take they will always be taking on a role in life. Throughout history, political individuals have been trying to persuade others to fulfill a certain role. Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention 1775” and “The Speech to the 2012 Democratic National Convention” by Bill Clinton are just a few examples. Others such as Thomas Paine take a more direct approach by writing “The Crisis” to convince soldiers…show more content…
Paine evokes the audience’s sense of right and wrong to convince the audience. Thomas depicts what an adult would say in a troubling situation. He says, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace” (Paine 37). Paine wants to the audience to think the same way, so that their “child may have peace.” It is necessary for the soldiers to act now and fight. Just as Thomas Paine argues that giving the next generation peace is the right thing to do, he claims that the role of the individual is to protect later generations. Paine also claims that people who refuse to act are failing their children and not fulfilling their individual roles. Thomas wants everyone, no matter what class, to fight to protect their offspring. He says, “The heart that feels not now, is dead: The blood of his children shall curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole [...]” (Paine 37). The use of loaded language emphasizes the need to act in “a time when a little might have saved the whole.” Paine uses loaded phrases like the “blood of his children” to evoke a sense of guilt in the soldiers. Thomas argues that people who don’t act will be responsible for the problems the next generation faces. People who do act now are fulfilling their roles as individuals to protect their children and future

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