¶ … Speech
Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy by Edward M. Kennedy
Why did you choose this speech? The speech by Senator Edward Kennedy was brilliantly written as a dramatic and emotional salute to his brother. But it was also a positive projection of why "moral courage" was needed in the world. The country went through years of protests against the Vietnam War; Bobby Kennedy had won the 1968 Oregon and California Democratic Primaries and there was hope that he could become president and end the war.
What tools does the speaker use to get the point across? Edward Kennedy used colorful, literary-level narrative as he mapped out a future where "…each of us can work to change a small portion of events," adding that "…each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others…he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope." Edward poignantly linked his brother's progressive vision for peace and justice with the need for a more peaceful, just world.
THREE: What did you learn from this speech? I learned that in a time of grieving over the death of a future leader, a brother can stand up and get the world's attention with a powerful speech that adds a strong sense of hope to a gloomy moment. "Some men see things as they are and say why…I dream things that never were and say why not," Edward quoted his brother, as an ending to his eulogy. I understood after reading...
King's introduction is blunt: "One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of
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