(Quotes are from a Marine)

“Give me liberty or give me death!”, a quote made famous by Patrick Henry in his speech against the British. The power and effectiveness of this speech came from the rhetorical devices used within it. His use of metaphors gives his ideas imagery. The use of rhetorical questions enhance his argument because the answers are obvious. His repetition by using anaphora and parallelism also heightens his argument by intensifying his point or stressing meaning.
Parallelism and anaphora are very similar to one another both are repetitious, and achieve the same goal of strengthening an argument. “We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have protested ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and parliament.” is a great example of parallelism. This helped get the point across that they have done everything, and none of it has worked. “But when shall we be stronger? Will it be next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house?” This example of anaphora helps with the understanding that, that was the peak of their military strength.
Rhetorical questions are questions with an obvious answer, which aids in the argument. In this speech Patrick Henry uses many rhetorical questions, without the use of these the speech wouldn’t have been as powerful as it was. “Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love?” The answer was obvious to the people in the Virginia Convention and it showed them just what they’ve been doing wrong.”Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?” This question told them that they are pretty much giving up and hoping for peace to find itself.
“I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” This metaphor is telling use that his experiences help guide his way through life. He relates this to a lamp because it does the same thing in the dark. “They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging.” His reference here is saying that the English have been enslaving the people, and that the soldiers are there to enforce it. further proving his point for the need to fight England.
Using Metaphors made the point that England has enslaved the US and that his experiences tell him to fight. Rhetorical questions helped them realize that we were giving up early and we need to not use force to get back love. His repetition strengthened the point that we have done everything we can, and we should fight now because we are at our strongest point.Using these rhetorical devices aided him in convincing the House of Burgess to go to war.

-Chris

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Settled beneath the feet sat pebbles, which, despite being solid, maintained a sorrowful structure. Like the emotions that are like fuel to the juggernaut of the soul, they are fragile, but have shown a unique level of endurance. Of a once more collective life with a boulder, or a cliff, or some other stone structure, they’ve grown separated; separated from family, home, and have been forced out on their own. It is the weaker the infrastructure of unity is permitted to become, that contributes to the degrading state that overcomes the best of everything. It is what reduces something or someone from a proud and strong tower of power into a series of forgotten, minuscule pebbles.

The pebbles were settled upon a steady, lonely plateau. This cliff itself was a randomly and beautifully crafted product of nature’s obsession with precision (although appearing just nothing more than a series of unrelated fusions and fissions, it is all Mother Nature’s brilliant trickery and illusionary habits with her atmospheric friends and her own meddling beneath the skin of Atlas’ trophy and burden. That Mother Nature, she has a method to her madness). Solitary, but not confined; just alone. The years promoted a skirmish with man and nature. The cliff did not weep, for it had a heart of stone. Once upon a time, there were rampant waters drowning the ground and small veins of cracks that carried soldiers of rain, deployed by the nimbus airliners of the great above. This kept the cliff a cool entity. But this would be a denied reality as life went on. Bursts of dangerous things, fallen from man-made fliers, and the damnation of weather hacked away. The canyon itself conformed to change, submitting to all the hellish modifications, natural and man made. The world was changing, the weather was changing; there was not a thing more that the cliff could do. It was much like a P.O.W. forced to succumb to the degrading and dehumanizing conditions of it’s captor.

The cliff was not alone, for it had a companion. It was the creation of nature, but one that rose in rebellion of. It was much like moderate religious goers who claim Christianity, but do not believe; there is a disconnection with the perceived creator. It was not the fox who devours the prey that lives throughout the forest, nor was it the lion who owns the open savannas of Africa, dictating the general order of events; it was man. One man in particular, stood out. It was not a man by gender, for the gender was not known, but just a man, as in the general reference to humanity. For countless nights, this man has joined the cliff for sunset, but while remaining in hiding during sunrise. The flowers would open themselves up for the sunrise, but soon wither and die, with a burning vengeance of a now-Venus reminiscent sky. Sunrise once introduced such themes as awakening, but now promotes damnation.

The world has undergone a lot of change. Am I republican or am I a democrat? Am I Hispanic or am I Caucasian? Am I intellectual or am I inventive? Am I Christian or am I atheist? There were days when division was inexistent, at least beyond the hounds of territorial borders of Eden and Babylon. These days had long lost themselves, and have progressively entangled itself in a growing series of conflicts that would draw the many lines of prejudice, in a monument of discrimination, supported by the pillars of cliché. It was upon these continuously cracking grounds, that the foundations of cooperation would soon evolve from a soft warning jolt in the crusts of the Earth into a full-scale, Richter scale defying quake. The spears would soon shift to cannons and eventually reach bombs of nuclear magnitude. The innocence humanity was deprived through devastation, with such little remorse that it also costed the health of the world that never ceased protecting humanity.

The winds seemed to draw further for normality with each and every day. The foul stench that carried through it, surfing the shifting air. The stench served as a reminder of every new carcinogen, every new danger, and every new source of negativity that was being created. It was worse than those who seek solutions in vain, like trees who do not eliminate carbon dioxide and still seek the credit. The world grew no better in the face of hypocrisy. Statues crumbled as civilizations engaged in an indirect war with Mother Nature. The atmosphere was skinned alive and left to bleed with no ozone left to protect the internal organs and veins of her body. Every plant, every animal, every insect, every fish; they would all learn to die, with one catch: without the continuation of their species. The response was aggressive, as Mother Nature evolved from a passive, reserved woman into a vengeful, aggressive witch. The fury of punches would extend themselves from the hearts of Bermuda and Cuba and swipe right up the eastern seaboard of North America. The hunters would soon become the hunted and the bleeding would soon inflict the identical sensation upon the hearts of thousands. The house of Earth was breaking like a family bent on abuse and conflict, with a constantly accumulating smog like the brothers and sisters had a Cuban cigar in their mouth as they exchanged piercing words and painful thrusts of the fist.

But the purposes are unclear, of where the wars begin. Do wars begin with the recklessness of a race, who claim they are being singled out? Do the hurricanes seek to trump the tropical storms in uncontrollable vanity, crushing hills in the avalanches sparked by the storms that engage their wraths for the sole purpose of domination? Perhaps the man wasn’t much different than the cliff-or vice versa. Is there such a horror, however? The disruption of environmental politics and the understanding by the intrusive homo sapien would be astronomical-or damning. It was the ultimate downfall, to attempt to save the world while defiling the opponent, which is much like juggling a ball of glass and a double-edged sword. That’s just making life much more dramatic; but this is not high school, it is dealing with the terminal cancer that is on the edge of existence for the world. No end was in sight, as much as anyone liked to believe. It was much like the theories of Atlantis, Global Warming, or bipartisan politics; the myths range far and wide, and it’s a justifiable thought to think, that most are incapable of reading between the lines. The purchasing of indulgences to gain right to step on the grass of a sacred lawn does not justify the damages already and continuously carried out. The man was well aware of the damages his people have done. Is this why he hides in shame of the sunset, but awaits the sundown in hopes that the closing could be the last of the devastating days of damnation.

Of all these thoughts, the question remains, of who of these do they belong?Are they the thoughts of a stubborn, lonely rock formation that has become as stone hearted and impenetrable as humanity, or of the wandering nomad who had become as brittle, breakable as the cliffs of the world who lost control of their destiny?