Barbara Jordan Narrative Essay
Barbara Jordan uses many repetitions in her speech (e. g. we believe-we believe), symbolism (Barbara Jordan symbolizes the discriminated Black people), enumeration (e. g. race, sex, economic condition), climax (e. g. from cynical to angry to frustrated), Anaphora (e. g. we are a people.. ), parallelism ( But there is something different about tonight. There is something special about tonight), metaphor (deafness) and rhetorical question (If that happens, who then will speak for America? Who then will speak for the common good?
Stylistic devices are effective to me because first, they strongly stressed an idea and that second it caught my attention since they are more interesting to listen to. In fact, the five stylistic uses of language are to create powerful text, to make a lively and interesting text to catch reader’s attention, to stress an idea by unconsciously/consciously penetrating the mind, to coerce and to appeal to emotion. 2. How does Jordan celebrate the Democratic party? What American values does she associate with the Democratic party?
Barbara Jordan celebrates the Democratic Party by pointing it as the political party that most American turned to when they “looked for new ways to solve their problems and to uphold the principles of this nation” (Jordan, 1976). In other words, she describes the Democratic Party as a savior of American problems. This is possible because of the Democratic Party’s concept of governing which believe that “the people are the source of all governmental power and that the authority of the people is to be extended not restricted”(Jordan, 1976).
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The Democratic Party upholds the two American values: equality for all and privileges for none and innovation. Equality for all and privileges for none meant that each American are given the opportunity to be heard in a public forum and treated as equal no matter from what backgrounds they came from. There is no room then for discrimination arising from race, sex and economic condition. The second American value is the love for innovation. This meant that the American welcome change, and are willing to suffer for it, in order to have a better future (Jordan, 1976).
3. Jordan does not attack the opposition (i. e. , the Republicans) which is customary in a keynote address. Do you think this was a wise choice? Why or why not? Barbara Jordan’s decision not to attack the Republican was a wise decision in view of the fact of her admission that their own party had committed many mistakes, mistakes which according to her are not motivated by any deliberate desire to destroy but a “mistake of the heart” (Jordan, 1976).
If she attacks the Republicans then it just make their Party hypocritical and subject them to more vicious counterattack from the Republican Party. Jordan instead takes on the better path of humility, of admission of the mistakes done by the Party and assures the people that the Party is doing its best to correct those mistakes. Moreover, the refusal to attack the Republican just shows the sincere desire of the Democratic Party to achieve national unity in order to have a better future.
I think what Barbara Jordan hoped to achieve in this speech is to gain the American people’s sympathy and support for the Democratic Party through its willingness to admit its faults and at the same time inspiring them to be united for a better future. Reference Jordan, Barbara. (1976, July 12). Democratic Convention Keynote Address. Retrieved July 8, 2008 from http://www. elf. net/bjordan/keynote. html
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