Rhetorical Analysis Of Clare Boothe Luce - 1102 Words

Rhetorical Analysis Article: Luce In 1960, American journalist and politician Clare Boothe Luce speaks to journalists at the Women’s National Press Club. She brings up the topic of integrity. Not only does integrity affect journalists, but also the media as a whole. From the beginning, she is straightforward with the audience, she is going to give them hell. She goes on to say that everyone in the audience will be revolted, but should listen through. This prepares the room full of female journalists to feel attacked by her criticisms of the American press. Luce argues that integrity needs to be restored in the media, to do this she appeals to their values while using a defensive tone along with a positive one, while also creating†¦show more content†¦Stating â€Å"speaker that criticizes the weaknesses† and acknowledging that she doesn’t expect an â€Å"enthusiastic response† or a â€Å"friendly† response. She shows the audience what she expects and makes it clear that she isn’t trying to be the audience’s friend, but rather their teacher. Luce wants to restore integrity into the system and wants to teach them how to do this. It’s an effective choice because people generally dislike being told how to do something, so she informs the audience that they aren’t going to like her. This works well because she approaches it from the audiences point of view. Luce shifts to an attack on their beliefs of journalism at line seventeen. Phrases like â€Å"more bored† and â€Å"more revolted.† This shows that what she is about to say isn’t going to be agreeable and is going to be an attack on their beliefs about journalism. None the less they need to listen so they can fix American journalism. A few lines later she states â€Å"I am not a volunteer â€Å" and reminds them â€Å"You asked for it.† This is in the hopes of taking some of the audience’s criticism away from her, putting it back on themselves for inviting her. Luce makes the audience reconsider themselves and therefore relieves some of the pressure on her. It was effective because her purpose was clear, it got the point across and redirected to the audiences emotions towards themselves. Luce changes to a knowledgeable tone at line 26,