Use of Rhetorical Appeals in Obama’s Speech at Ted Kennedy’s Funeral

President Barack Obama gave a eulogy at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 29, 2009. Ted Kennedy served as a senator in the United States Senate with Barack Obama from 1962 until his death, in 2009. Edward Kennedy suffered many tragedies in his life, but he never let them affect him. He used these tragedies for the better and tried to help everyone he can who is suffering. At the memorial Obama describes how the world will no longer have Edward, and that they must remember him and the weighty legacy that he left behind.   Obama uses metaphors, parallelism, and appeals to the listeners’ emotions to try and get the audience to understand the significant contributions that Kennedy made to this country.

Barack Obama uses metaphors in the speech to help the reader visualize what most people think about Edward Kennedy. He uses vivid descriptions and words in these metaphors to help the listeners picture it in their head; Obama describes Kennedy as the “soul of the Democratic Party”, “ the lion of the U.S. Senate”. Using the word soul means that he embodies the whole Democratic Party, so it shows listeners just how important Kennedy was in the Senate. Also, the word lion means that he is the strength of the senate, so it shows us how he was a force behind the Senate, and was a strength to be reckoned with. Obama further describes how Kennedy was, “the restless dreamer who became its rock”. Using the word restless usually means that the person is unable to relax, so they always accomplish more than is expected. Talking about his personality in this way helps the reader understand how he acted and thought outside and in his job. Using metaphors, and other rhetorical choices in this speech helps the audience understand how Kennedy was to others and also how he acted in his life. 

  The use of parallelism in the speech is extremely effective because it puts more emphasis on the relationship between the senate and Kennedy. Also, the use of parallelism is helpful to establish a flow of writing and to help the listeners stay focused and alert while the speech is being delivered. Obama talks about how Kennedy was extremely aware of those who were “suffering…the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armour; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like''. Using these like sentence structure  and situations helps the audience get a better understanding of how Kennedy loved to help people in his life. All of these phrases set a precedent for the people that Kennedy helped; Kennedy helped all of the people who could not help themselves or did not know how to help themselves. Using alliteration and emotional appeals, add more emphasis to the subject at hand, and make it easier for the audience to process and listen to the speech.   

The use of emotion is also very prevalent in this speech, as Obama uses emotional appeals to try and get the audience to feel sympathetic and connect to Kennedy’s life. Obama talks about how Kennedy’s “causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did”. When Obama tells the audience that Kennedy’s work was deeply personal to him, it helps connect those he helped and those he lives with outside of work. It shows how he let his job be personal to him, and how he cared so much for so many people, but he never let that prejudice into his arguments. Obama also discusses how it would have been “easy for Teddy to let himself become bitter and hardened”. Saying how Kennedy could have let himself become a bitter person shows the reader just how much Kennedy went through in his life. It helps the audience associate more because everyone has a hard life and by using life experiences someone can feel more connected to a writing. The use of emotion in Obama’s writing helps him and the listeners at the memorial feel the same emotions and feelings toward this speech.