Analyse af Jawaharlal Nehrus tale 'Tryst with Destiny'

Jawaharlal Nehru's iconic narrative, "Tryst with Destiny", delivered on the eve of India's independence from the British Empire, shows his intentions to highlight key events in India's freedom struggle, assert his future leadership as Prime Minister and prepare the nation for the challenges of self-government. Nehru's use of symbolic language and appeals to ethos effectively conveys his vision and purpose for this historical moment.

Jawaharlal Nehru's has a clear intention with the speech "Tryst with Destiny". He wants to emphasize the central events of India's independence, strengthen his own leadership as a forthcoming Prime Minister and to prepare the Indian people for the consequences of self-governance.

The speech, which was held the night before India officially became independent from the British empire, has the intention of celebrating and marking and the occasion. “At a stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will wake up to life and freedom. A moment will come that comes but rarely in history..." (page 1, line 5-7) In this quote, Nehru uses symbolic, metaphorical language and appeals to ethos, and that way he gets his message and intention through.

Even though the main intention with the speech is to prepare the people of India and the government, what consequences and challenges it will bring, with this new independence. Nehru uses a lot of ethos to get his message through, since it makes him reliable. He reflects over the new challenges and how the community will get through them. “Freedom and power bring responsibility. Responsibility rests with this assembly..." (page 2, line 3-4); "But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens, and we must meet them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people."(page 2, line 42-43) In this quote it is very clear that Nehru wants to inform the people about these new responsibilities, but he is hopeful and trusts his people.