Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Meeting With Jinnah

When it was clear the independence of India was imminent and near, the Islamic leader Mr Jinnah who rallied behind Gandhi all this while was advocating for an independent nation separate from India for the Muslim populace. His reason was that the Muslims did not want to be a minority in a Hindu filled India. This increased the animosity between the two factions with some Hindus rallying in an effort to stop Gandhi from meeting with Mr Jinnah. This speech was his address to them.
This short speech is a deliberative rhetoric as it is in a form of argument between himself and the audience. Also, because he is urging them to stop shouting and waving flags for Mr Jinnah to be killed.
The dominant appeal here is the ethical appeal(ethos). He persuades them to see the Muslims as their fellow brothers by setting himself as an example, he says" i am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew and so are all of you".He knows very well that they respect and approve of him and his values so if he(Gandhi) is able to relate this way to everybody so should they.
The figure of speech used in the above quote is the polysyndeton. He mentions the conjunction "and" in close succession about a dozen times to make him look mult-ireligious and affirm the idea that they are all one people. He was appalled by what they were and told them to stop it.


Thursday, November 6, 2014

The Long Walk

This speech was more about the gesture than the words spoken. There's been a royal monopoly on the manufacture of salt and it was illegal to make salt without permission from the British government. Gandhi's decision to walk 240 miles to the sea to make salt was predominantly the appeal to emotion (pathos).
His action sort to stir a lot of emotions from both sides. Looking at it from the Indian perspective, the long walk's primary importance was symbolic as control over the salt meant control over the pulse of India and from the British point it went down as a form of disrespect to their leadership and cemented the fact that they were no ,ore in control of the Indian populace.
During this journey, people were cheering, happy, all sorts of positive emotions were expressed. The main concept behind this gesture was to provoke the British empire and he achieved that effect to the maximum.

When he got to the ocean and fetched some of the salt, he raised his hands and said these words "this salt comes from Indian ocean, let every Indian claim it as his right'. This statement although literally means they should take control of the salt metaphorically he is reaffirming the fact that India is for the Indian people and that they should reclaim it. It also goes to clarify the minds of Indian who had a figment of doubt that the country was their for the taking.