Woodrow Wilson's speech Final Address in Support of the League of Term Paper

Woodrow Wilson's speech Final Address in Support of the League of Nations - Term Paper Example The paper presents a critical analysis of Woodrow Wilson’s speech as a persuasive discourse necessitates an in-depth understanding of the various aspects of a persuasive speech. Persuasive speeches are governed by both communicative intentions and persuasive intentions and the ultimate goal of such a discourse is to exert favorable responses in the minds of the audience. Any persuasive speech aims at â€Å"influencing values, ideas, beliefs and attitudes of the audience† and as such persuasive speeches try â€Å"to convince people to come a different idea, attitude and belief, react to something, consider doing things they were previously unwilling to do.† All throughout the speech Woodrow Wilson’s attempts to persuade a target audience are clearly evident. He repeatedly addresses the audience as â€Å"fellow countrymen† and â€Å"my fellow citizens.† In the very beginning of the speech itself he tries to make a rapport with the audience by e xplicitly stating that they are not far from him. Towards the second paragraph of his speech Woodrow Wilson introduces the issue of League of Nations by emphasizing that there are ‘organized propaganda against the League of Nations’ and that there are men who â€Å"have been busy creating an absolutely false impression of what the treaty of peace and the Covenant of the League of Nations contain and mean.† He goes on to purport that it is people who are sympathetic towards certain bodies of foreign nations who protest against the treaty. Wilson also takes conscious efforts to adapt the content of the speech to the ideas, attitudes and values of the audience. He was quite aware that many of the senators and the Americans regarded the treaty as a mere settlement with Germany. He purports: â€Å"It is not merely a settlement with Germany; it is a readjustment of those great injustices which underlie the whole structure of European and Asiatic society.†4 He al so argues that the treaty is the people’s treaty and that there are several treaties to follow the same line as that of League of Nations. Historical evidences show that Woodrow Wilson toured the whole nation in order to turn the American public opinion in favor of the League of Nations. He paid great value to the settlements agreed at the Paris Peace Conference and it was a very difficult task for him to convince the U.S. Congress and get their approval for the treaty of League of Nati

American Dream Concept in Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Dream Concept in Literature - Essay Example The ideals lay shattered, and values became irrelevant or became impotent, exposing the hollowness of the American Dream. Thirty years later, Barbara Ehrenreich embarked on a similar journey of discovery, but did it herself, actually living out the life of the working poor to discover how it actually felt. Her book, â€Å"Nickel and Dimed† published in 1971 is almost a piece of investigative reporting. For three months, she actually waited on tables, cleaned hotels, and homes, and worked at Wal-Mart in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota because they were the highest paying un-skilled jobs she could find as a mother in her late 50s working for the first time, at "mothers hours." Affordable housing was a myth that forced her to live in cabins, trailer parks or weekly motels. The people behind Americas dressed up service economy had no place to go back to at night. The degradation was appalling, with numerous drug tests and surprise purse searches. So-called personality tests were actually designed to reject assertive candidates who could be potential misfits in the organization. Organizing a union was ruled out when even talking to co-workers was a crime labeled â€Å"time theft†. â€Å"Associates†, not workers, waited on â€Å"guests†, not customers, surviving on a bag of chips divided between lunch and dinner, or cold cuts out of a grocery bag in a motel room. Social welfare agencies were of no help either, manned by compassionate but exhausted people who really had nothing material to offer. Later, in 2006, through her book â€Å"Bait and Switch†, she explores the world of the white-collared unemployed, with college degrees, marketable skills, and impressive resumes, but equally vulnerable to financial disaster.