1. I have to read my papers through after I am finished, so that I won’t make any stupid mistakes. 2. I have to read the whole problem and remember to write every part of the paper. 3. I must start in the paper earlier than a day before, this would also make me remember those things above.

Back to school

Every time we all hear about how important it is to finish an education. People without an education do not have the same possibilities, as the people who worked hard to finish it. Making it through the whole education system and getting started with working and developing the place around you, is important for everyone, no matter if they believe in it or not. Barack Obama wants to make this clear for the students at their first day at school at Wakefield High School in Arlington.

The speech has a typical composition for a speech of this kind. Barack Obama starts by making contact to them all. Then he talks about how that he can understand how they are feeling at their first day at school and that he have tried the same things back in his days. Then the main point is coming, that everybody has to take responsibility and get things done and work hard. He ends the whole point by asking what people should remember them for, which gives all of the students a lot of responsibility for their own lives.

During the whole speech, Barack Obama uses a lot of pathos. One clear example is the national feeling that every American has “If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.” (line 63). This national sentiment makes the students think once again about what they are going to do, because nobody will quit their country, and especially not the American people. He also uses pathos when trying to get better contact with his audience. When telling about how his own life was filled with struggles and things that make it even harder to succeed getting an education “I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.” (line 67). By saying this many of the students problems seem silly, because losing your father is one of the worst imaginable things that can happen. Furthermore it shows that even with the big problems and all the things that he needed but could not afford when he was young, it is still possible to have success. Reaching success and living the life you want to, is important for everybody especially the ones with the biggest battles. Barack Obama does have ethos, by being him self as the president of The United States.

When he has a statement that he wants everybody to remember he uses the same word in the start of a few sentences “I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility… I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility… I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility”(line 22), these are called anaphors. Noticeable in that quote is that Barack Obama also points out that it is the audience’s government, even though he represents the government.

During the speech Obama tries to get on the same level as his audience. He uses his own story, to show that everybody has the same problems. He also uses 3 stories from his own experiences. These narratives makes the audience think twice in what he says afterwards. The 3 examples which he brings in the middle of the speech are success stories, but it still shows to his audience that they can get, what they want, as long as they keep on working hard and try accomplish their goals in life.

By having this composition he makes sure that he is having their attention all the time. The audience does always listen from the beginning, and then when it starts getting boring, Obama start to talk about his own life, which takes their attention again. After he has spoken about how important it is for their country, he uses the 3 narratives. This way they are all listening all the time, because they can relate to him at any time. Barack Obama also start his speech by saying “Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? (line 1). He does so because he tries to get on their level from the beginning and get equally with them, even though he has his big authority, because of his job. Obama also uses a special way of talking about the bad things that make the students forget their homework “I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.” (line 23), especially by saying “that Xbox” he makes it sound like that it is a terrible thing, but also that he is from another generation than the students he is talking to. It brings shame to the Xbox, which he wants to do, so that they do homework instead of playing with it.

He addresses his speech very good to the youngsters and they will recognize many of the things that he spoke about and therefor hopefully also get his points of the whole speech.

This speech was a very good one by Obama overall, but if it had any influence can only time tell us, whether The States are going to solve these problems or will go down by the time that goes by.