Oprah Winfreys takketale, retorisk analyse

When Oprah Winfrey, the famous talk show host, won the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in September 22, 2002. She held an acceptance speech where she expressed har gratitude by telling a story about her father that revolves around being kind towards your fellow human and that we are all equal no matter your social status or skin colour. The intention of the speaker is to inspire people, inform and even educate the audience that we all in the end want the same thing.

One of the most important ways Oprah Winfrey, tries to achieve her intention is through her use of rhetorical devices. She makes use of anaphora’s, that repeats the word at the beginning of a sentence. For example, “We want validation. We want the same things. We want safety…. We want to find…. We want to find somebody…. (p.2, l.3-5)”, in this example can you see that she uses the words “we want” to get closer to the audience by making them feel like they and she are a unit and that we all are just regular people wanting the same things. She also expresses that she is very thankful for her award by using another anaphora “Thank you everybody. Thank you Tom, and Bob and Dolores…. thank you so much…. (p.1, l.1-2)”. Here she expresses her thankfulness, by using “thank you”, this makes the audience feel appreciated. Through Oprah's use of anaphora, does she get her point across and makes the audience listen to her, because she repeats the word at the beginning of the sentences and therefor shows that she means the words she says.