Feb. 22, 2018

In class today we analyzed the literary/rhetorical devices used in Landrieu's speech. We did this to understand why he used these devices and how they impacted the speech as a whole.

Anaphora

"After decades of public debate, of anger, of anxiety, of anticipation, of humiliation and of frustration;
after public hearings and approvals from three separate community boards and commissions;
after two robust public hearings and a 6-1 vote by our duly-elected City Council; after review by 13
different federal and state judges: The full weight of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of
government has been brought to bear and that is why these monuments are coming down in accordance
with the law and will be removed." The constant use of the word 'after' at the beginning of consecutive sentences creates the feeling of restlessness and also demonstrates to the people that this has all been a long time coming.

Metaphor

Metaphor: "You see, New Orleans is truly a city of many nations, a melting pot, a bubbling cauldron of
many cultures."

This metaphor furthers his argument because it shows how diverse the city really is and it makes his
argument stronger to get rid of the monuments.

Cacophony

"New Orleans was one of America’s largest slave markets, a port where hundreds of thousands of souls
were bought, sold, and shipped up the Mississippi River to lives of forced labor, of misery, of rape, and
of torture." This use of cacophony emphasizes the horrible injustice done to so many and invokes the
question; why would we commemorate this with a monument?

Personification

"The soul of our beloved city is rooted in a history that has evolved over thousands of years;
rooted in a diverse people who have been here together every step of the way through good and through
the bad."

- personification. the city cant actually have a soul. he uses this to show how New Orleans should be a
wonder, but the memories and constant reminder of these statues haunts the people of New Orleans of their
past.

Antithesis

"A piece of stone -- one stone. Both stories, history. One story told, one story forgotten -- or maybe even
purposefully ignored."

The way that antithesis adds to the speech is that it emphasizes how we are looking at this issue from the
white man's perspective but there isn't much being said for the colored man's perspective. This draws in
the topic of race and that then adds empathy to this speech.

How this connects to the world at large:

Today's lesson teaches us that word choice and how we choose to arrange those words truly do say a lot about the writer/speaker. It could either add credibility or discredit a person. For example, had Landrieu not added all these different literary/rhetorical devices to his speech, we probably would have zoned out or maybe even the message within would have been lost due to the lack of credibility behind it. Using these devices add a lot not just to school papers or speeches, but they add to the toolbox of things you could use to construct a valid argument and do it effectively.