Reflection #3

This past semester has been a huge eye opener in terms of political terms such as freedom, independence and society. It reminded me a lot of the nationalism times during history when it was sorely needed.  We looked at the Declaration of Independence, as well as speeches from famous historical figures, Presidents like Abraham and Kennedy, and civil right activists like Stanton and MLK Jr. This unit has been all about how language is used to deliver obligations to the people to improve society from their view points. It is the duty of all those who spoke in front of an audience to convince them that the actions that they take are for the betterment of society. The big correlation in the readings that were chosen for the marking period is that they are all from times of need where something must be done to prevent a negative experience, or cause a positive one. The authors that were chosen may have had discrimination, such as King and Stanton, while others had the responsibility to improve the nation, which would be the presidents we covered. 

 I recall Kennedy's  inaugural address, and ask not what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Such a simple sentence, but a large impact. The rhetoric behind his speech was to ensure a time of peace and unification; he did not ever mention himself in the dialog. He merely goes on about what the citizens of America have as an obligation to fulfill, and passes on the responsibility of the success of his words to the people. And this last line expresses his entire speech; It inspires a nationalistic feeling. We can see that through his use of power and his charisma, he basically handed the torch onto the people. He provided these obligations based on the context of the period after war has ended. His speech on peace helped to fulfill his duty to protect our union.
However, not all speeches were made in peaceful times; King's I have a dream speech was aggressive and wanted to excite the people, not calm them down. He uses a strong sense of pauses and voice to make his speech dramatic and impactful. He was out to save ALL African American from discrimination, and by giving this inspirational speech using his sense of pathos, he had to convince a nation to remove all of this hate. This is not an easy task in any sense, and it helped to bring about freedom and equality of treatment of African Americans. 
The individual's obligation to government is the betterment of society. The government's obligation to the individual is the betterment of his or her life. In a sense, they take are of each other, in a symbiotic relationship. Stanton had to fight for Women's rights, while Abraham fought to preserve the Union. No matter what the issue was, the fact remains that they took up the responsibility and spread their message effectively using rhetoric as their key artillery, regardless of their position.