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What seems to be the purpose of the speech?

Which rhetorical strategies does he use? For example, does he use appeals such as pathos, logos, or ethos? Does he use devices such as figurative language, repetition, or rhetorical questions?
Which logical fallacies do you notice?

User Knuth
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1 Answer

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17 votes

Answer:

The purpose of the speech is to recount the events of his governorship and frame those events as successes achieved through teamwork.

Step-by-step explanation:

Arnold uses a few rhetorical appeals. He uses ethos with his anecdote of the pig and pony. By conveying a household event involving pets, he wants his audience to sense that he shares their values. He uses pathos when he says that there were "leaders who sacrificed their careers" to close the budget gap. He uses logos when he lists some of his administration's accomplishments: "We made painful spending cuts. We passed temporary tax increases. We permanently eliminated COLAs for most state programs, and we made major reforms in welfare and parole."

The most noticeable rhetorical device Arnold uses is repetition. He repeats the word "together" five times in just a few sentences. He also uses the word "teamwork" three times during the same portion of the speech. He does this to strengthen his claim that his administration achieved success collectively.

His comparison of the pig-and-pony's cooperation to the California state legislature seems like a false analogy. He also makes a hasty generalization toward the end when we says he and legislators "did what we had to do," suggesting that there were no possible alternatives.

User Panshul
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