Rhetorical Analysis Test

Why does John F. Kennedy open his speech with the following lines?

"We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance." 

Mark all that apply.

• To create a feeling of pride in the audience.

• To show appreciation to the college.

• To establish ethos and a sense of credibility.

• To establish some rapport with the audience.

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12.R.ELA.T.11

Why does Kennedy take his listeners on a whirlwind tour of scientific progress in this speech?

Mark all that apply.

• To establish his mastery of the subject.

• To establish ethos as an authority on the subject.

• To build up his audience.

• To create a sense of national pride.

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12.R.ELA.T.11

Which rhetorical appeal does Kennedy employ in the following passage?

“But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour.

• Pathos

• Ethos

• Logos

• Kairos

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12.R.ELA.T.11

Kennedy refers to himself and the audience as ‘we’ around 46 times throughout the speech. What is the speaker's purpose for using the word "we" so many times?

Mark all that apply.

• He is establishing an emotional/pathos argument.

• He prefers not to use the first person "I".

• He is taking the audience on an emotional journey with him.

• He wants to establish that he and the audience are in this together.

Which rhetorical device is used by the speaker in the following line?

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.”

• Anaphora

• Epistrophe

• Onomatopoeia

• Metaphor

Which rhetorical device does the speaker employ in the following line from the speech?

"Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war…"

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Imagery

What was the historical context, the occasion, and purpose for this speech?

Mark all that apply

• to persuade the audience to invest in Nasa exploration.

• He wanted us to build a rocket.

• • 
    

    To inform the audience how the NASA program was doing and the advancements thus far.

• The United States was in a "space race" with Russia; we were competing to see which country would get to the moon first.

The speaker's tone is...

Mark all that apply.

• Inspirational

• Competitive

• Persuasive

• Aggressive

Why does Kennedy use rhetorical questions in his speech?

Mark all that apply.

• To control the speech.

• To rouse the audience.

• To engage the audience in thought.

• To subtly influence the audience

How effective, persuasive, or credible is Kennedy's speech, "We choose to go to the Moon"?  What made it effective or ineffective: explain your reasoning using rhetorical appeals and rhetorical devices he employed within his speech.  Provide evidence from the text.  Use the ACE method to respond: Answer the question, Cite text evidence, and Explain how your evidence proves your answer.

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