paper 1 commentary

The text analyzed is “Ich bin ein Berliner” by John F Kennedy.  It’s a political speech in which he discuses the necessity of removing the berlin wall. As he is set to be showing support towards the Germans and unite by exploiting certain political statements of his own to unite the east with the west and to support the west Berliners to do so by devoting and giving them a morale boost. Throughout reading the speech he use of rhetorical devices had been noted as the use of epistophe and the use of emotions hence he was trying to make it friendly not dubious. The employment of such devices helps develop the relation between the two nations and help prove JFk’s political position as being one of them. 

By looking at where the speech was delivered in west Berlin it is noted that there is particular group in mind that is addressed as it isn’t aimed towards the everyone but Germans in specific as they would relate to the cause as shown in JFK’s slogan “Ich bin ein Berliner” which refers to I am a Berliner, by saying saw his triggering the appeal of emotions by placing himself in their culture so that he could address the matter in a direct way. The slogans seems to be found in many instances in the speech indicating its repetitiveness as this might indicate the importance of re uniting the sides the two sides of Germany without indicating his stance, as he believes in reuniting them as “Berliners”.  However he still emphasizes and restricts the ideology of him becoming one of them as he refers to him self as a “guest of (your) distinguished mayor” in order to trigger their emotions and gain their empathy, therefore sets to improve his position with the audience without causing negative implications.

Throughout his speech Kennedy amplifies the use of anaphora with historical reference to a claim being “civis Romanus sum” while in reality it’s the world of freedom and proudest claim ” is Ich bin ein Berliner”. Throughout his speech the use of parallelism has been indicated in which he tries to demonstrate and obtain a strong bond between the two sides by informing them that they can achieve the title of being Berliners if they are reunited again by removing the berlin wall. Later on a metaphor embodied by JFK “ the world of freedom” is being used however the world isn’t that free there are constrains but he is implying the ideology that they would obtain that ideology if they join sides and accept each other so that there could be a “world of freedom”. Further on the employment of the repetitive phrase “Let them come to Berlin” is employed to obtain and strengthen the bond that he had already established with the audience as his phrase indicates that he would like people to come in to berlin and see the beauty and the wonders of the city as it is without being divided and segregated. The repetition of the phrase leads it to be an epistrophe, which allows JFK to establish a link and develop compassion and the ideology of acceptance between the two sides while praising the thought of uniting into one, which by definition is the opposite of anaphora. JFk’s statement “What is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin” is used to provoke the previous thoughts that were thought upon and makes him create a political position and a simple stance in regards to the addresses issue by opening the minds of the “Berliners” into accepting the ideology of having a free world with no constrains and to be open minded about such a thought. Furthermore JKF talks and addresses the issue that “freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect” as he is stating that he is showing that it isn’t easy to obtain yet they should place efforts to do so and not limit themselves without obtaining the assigned objective of unification.

On the other hand he allows himself to still maintain that tough bond that he had created by stating “lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen” which is a repetitive phrase that is used for “ let them come to Berlin” once again reinforcing the ideology of him becoming a Berliner.  As JFK states a narrative in which he states, “we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in” to resist a condition, implying and portraying an ideal to the audience that nations peace and comfort would be restored and remain strong throughout the process of removing the wall therefore social and cultural acknowledgment along with freedom would take place. Then JFK talks and discuss previous relations that he had experienced with Germans and expresses his excessive pleasure and honor to have met such a nice nation in despite of their separation of the nation however it had been achieved by the use of polysyndeton throughout his speech. JFK then uses repetitive phrases that include certain conjunctions in order to place an emphasis on certain words that play a role in changing the Berliners mind. Likewise Kennedy restores the use of pathos to trigger the emotional quota of each individual by mentioning the issue of the divided families and relating it to be as  “an offense towards humanity” making him to talk about the topic and engage with it directly. By using the words like “ peace, good, right etc..” throughout a section of his speech once again underlines the ideal cause of unification between the opposing sides.

And at the end JFK tend to end the speech using the following statement “all free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, Thank you” to symbolically show the importance of freedom in the world and enhances the throughout of removing the wall in the audiences mind