Mary Abbey Speech

The message Abbey was trying to convey in the speech was that peace is not war but war is used to create peace. The purpose of Abbey’s speech is to explain her concept on how peace is the reason of wars. Throughout many techniques and rhetorical devices, Abbey has shown this referring to the poem Five Ways to Kill a Man by Edwin Brock and George W Bushes’ speech on 9/11. Abbey also questions that if this is the concept of war, to create peace, then is war really necessary? I think that the intended target audience of the speech is to those who also, like Abbey, question the point of war. In this speech Abbey gives her own personal opinion, which was can all somehow reflect on as well.

Abbey’s speech was performed very well using good projection, eye contact and articulation. The use of pauses between questions and strong statements leave us to wonder and reflect on what she has just said, which helped her speech create more of a connection to the audience. There was also a great use of rhetorical devices, which I explain later in this reflection. Although the speech was performed excellently, she should keep in mind for next time to be a little bit more loader, show more of a connected emotion to her speech and more body language.
Throughout her speech Abbey has used the rhetorical device of rhetorical questions.
Abbey has used this technique in numerous ways. She has firstly used it at the beginning of her speech by questioning the audience about the point of war. An example of a rhetorical question at the beginning was, “To create peace there must be war?” By using great pauses between each the questions this created a great effect in making the audience reflect on the rhetorical questions she is
asking.

Another example of Abbey’s use of rhetorical questions is at the end of each point throughout her speech she has ended it with a question. This is good because she is basically showing her point at the conclusion of each paragraph, enhancing our knowledge more about what she is saying and how we must feel about it. An example of this was at the end of one of her points, she says, “Do we make the choice to help out others or just leave them and see what the outcome is?” I feel that this point sums at that point well, and again, leaves us as the audience to reflect on what she just said.

Throughout her speech Abbey also attempts to enlighten the audience in using as I mentioned before, the rhetorical questions at the beginning of the speech then repeating them in the conclusion as more of a statement. This is a fantastic use of the Rhetorical Technique of Repetition. For example, in the conclusion she questioned, “To create peace there must be war?” Then, at the conclusion of the speech, she says it more as a statement “To create peace there must be war.” I thought this was an excellent way to conclude her speech as it is like Abbey has answered her question throughout the speech and is motivating as in the end in convincing us to think about these questions and think again about whether war is necessary.

The final rhetorical advice I will mention is her use of persuasive language. Abbey has used through her questions a great use of persuasive language. This is really well done because it is as she is questioning us, but at the same time making out that we should know that, but her speech is proving to us why we should know it. An example of this was, “So do we try to have no war, whatever the cost? Or do we have people that want something more than peace?” This is a really good point, as she is asking one question, leaving us to reflect our own opinion, and then following from this she is assuring us with another question what we should be thinking.

In conclusion Abbey has used the war rhetoric devices very well in persuading, connecting and asking the audience on their opinion on the point of war and how it in the end affects society and people. I love her idea on creating us to reflect on her points. It is a good way of persuading us to believe what she is saying. It leaves us, as the audience to think, is war really necessary?