Inauguration and Nelson Mandela

The form, style, and structure of Mandela’s inaugural speech all work together to develop Mandela’s hope to call the country together to forgive the past, and unite to build a new glorious South Africa. For instance, Nelson Mandela’s inauguration speech uses the persuasive form to express his passion for the people of South Africa. Mandela’s tone is uplifting, inspirational, and commanding. He use’s motivational phrases to encourage people to come together. He states “the time for the healing of the wounds has come” and “the moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come” (Mandela 437). Moreover, this technique allows him to appeals to people’s emotion, character, and reason. This allows them to feel connected with him and easier to follow as a political figure. Not only does Mandela use the persuasive form to get his point across but he also uses metaphors.

“Implant hope in the breast of millions of our people” (Mandela 436). this Mandela uses a lot of repetition as well. In this case it is the pronoun “we” is repeated. He says “we are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom” as well as “we trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenge of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy” (Mandela 436). Mandela’s repetition of the pronoun “we” is meant to build a connection with his audience. This develops his idea and allows his fellow citizens to look at him as one of them. Without a doubt, the structure, style and format of Nelson Mandela’s speech all worked together to unite the people of South Africa.