I Am Prepared to Die,” the Rivonia Trial Speech Took Place on the Final Court Day in Pretoria
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, SOUTH AFRICA AND NELSON MANDELA: A CASE FOR RHETORICAL URGENCY AND A STRATEGY FOR RHETORICAL SUCCESS By RANIA L. WILLIAMS A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2008 1 © 2008 Rania L. Williams 2 To my parents, Robert and Theresa, who have helped me to get to this point in my education through a lot of pushing and even more prayer. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A special thank you is extended to Dr. Sid Dobrin and Dr. Brian McCrea for serving on my Thesis team. I appreciate the feedback, suggestions, time, and effort that you put into helping make this educational experience rewarding and successful. Your input was valuable and will be used as I continue to matriculate through other educational endeavors. I definitely did not get through this research and writing process without the valuable advice and much needed prodding from my friends and fellow graduate students in the English Department. Thanks to everyone; I’d still be staring at a blank page without you! 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................9 Nelson Mandela: The Beginnings of Rhetorical Genius ........................................................10 Mandela: The Student......................................................................................................10 Mandela: The Orator .......................................................................................................11 2 RHETORICAL URGENCY, THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, AND NELSON MANDELA ............................................................................................................................14 Mandela and Rhetorical Urgency ...........................................................................................14 Primary Methodology......................................................................................................15 3 THE STUDY: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS AND SECONDARY METHODOLOGY.......18 Rhetorical Analysis.................................................................................................................18 Secondary Methodology..................................................................................................19 The Preliminary Analysis................................................................................................20 The Rhetorical Analysis ..................................................................................................20 Rhetoric of Nelson Mandela: Speech at the Rivonia Trial.....................................................21 The Rhetorical Context....................................................................................................21 The Preliminary Analysis................................................................................................21 Audience...................................................................................................................21 Purpose.....................................................................................................................22 Pathos, ethos, and logos ...........................................................................................22 The Rhetorical Analysis ..................................................................................................23 Rhetoric of terminology ...........................................................................................23 Rhetoric of sentence structure/characteristics ..........................................................24 Rhetoric of organization/form..................................................................................24 Rhetorical analysis conclusions: Rivonia trial speech .............................................25 The Rhetoric of Nelson Mandela: Cape Town Release Speech.............................................26 The Rhetorical Context....................................................................................................26 The Preliminary Analysis................................................................................................27 Audience...................................................................................................................27 Purpose.....................................................................................................................27 Pathos, ethos, and logos ...........................................................................................27 The Rhetorical Analysis ..................................................................................................28 Rhetoric of Terminology..........................................................................................28 5 Rhetoric of sentence structure/characteristics ..........................................................29 Rhetoric of organization/form..................................................................................30 Rhetorical analysis conclusions: Cape Town release speech...................................31 Rhetoric of Nelson Mandela: The Inaugural Addresses.........................................................32 The Cape Town and Pretoria Inaugural Addresses .........................................................32 The rhetorical context...............................................................................................32 The Cape Town Inaugural Address ........................................................................................33 The Preliminary Analysis................................................................................................33 Audience...................................................................................................................33 Purpose.....................................................................................................................33 Pathos, ethos, and logos ...........................................................................................33 The Rhetorical Analysis ..................................................................................................34 Rhetoric of terminology ...........................................................................................34 Rhetoric of sentence structure/form .........................................................................35 Rhetoric of organization/form..................................................................................35 Rhetorical analysis conclusions: cape town inaugural speech .................................35 The Pretoria Inaugural Address..............................................................................................36 The Preliminary Analysis................................................................................................36 Audience...................................................................................................................36 Purpose.....................................................................................................................36 Pathos, ethos, and logos ...........................................................................................37 The Rhetorical Analysis ..................................................................................................37 Rhetoric of terminology ...........................................................................................37 Rhetorical analysis conclusion.................................................................................39 4 THE RHETORIC OF NELSON MANDELA: ANALYSIS CONCLUSION.......................40 A Theory.................................................................................................................................42 A New Scope of Rhetorical Analysis..............................................................................43 A Research Proposal........................................................................................................44 APPENDIX A TRANSCRIPTS OF THE FOUR ANALYZED SPEECHES................................................46 LIST OF REFERENCES...............................................................................................................74 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................75 6 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, SOUTH AFRICA AND NELSON MANDELA: A CASE FOR RHETORICAL URGENCY AND A STRATEGY FOR RHETORICAL SUCCESS By Rania L. Williams August 2008 Chair: Sidney Dobrin Major: English In May 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected president of the newly democratic nation of South Africa. After decades of oppressive apartheid rule, social and political activism, and the assistance of key international neighbors, South Africa emerged from a dead-end governing body, to one that would potentially elevate the country’s status to that of a developed nation. The success of South Africa can be explained in