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Chapter One Introduction
1
Chapter One Introduction
§1.1 Research Background
As we know, U.S. presidents give the State of the Union Addresses every year.
They use the opportunity to present their goals and agenda through broad ideas or
specific details. Although there are various kinds of forms, content, delivery methods,
their annual addresses are a backdrop for national unity. We can understand plenty of
policies, means about American economics, politics and social security systems,
which are presented by American presidents. We can see these addresses as a window
to know the United States and western culture.
From the time of President George Washington to the present, American people
have witnessed the development of the State of the Union Addresses, which remain
relatively stable and retain unique characteristics. Therefore, the State of the Union
Addresses can be recognized as a genre. Though they have already been widely
familiar to people, they have been under-researched in comparison with other genres
such as research articles, business letters or others. One reason for the lack of
researches might be that the State of the Union Addresses of American Presidents are
hard nuts for academics to crack, because they present few arguments, analyses or
anything else. We can always see researches on a certain president’s speech, but little
systematic investigation has been conducted into the State of the Union Addresses as a
whole, and some aspects of this particular genre are completely ignored. Even among
these researchers, they mainly focus on the issues of social security, terrorism, policies,
economy and so on in the State of the Union Addresses. Up to now, to my limited
knowledge, there is little research on the State of the Union Addresses, especially on
Bush’s State of the Union Addresses in light of western rhetorical theory. This is why
I would like to choose this subject for my study.
Since 2001, George W. Bush has been American President for eight years and
has already presented to us eight State of the Union Addresses. We can, therefore, take
his State of the Union Addresses as a representative to investigate the American State
of the Union Addresses as a genre.
A Rhetorical Analysis of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
2
§1.2 General Purpose of the Study
Based on rhetorical theories, classical and modern, the present study attempts to
analyze the American President George W. Bush’s eight State of the Union Addresses
as an absolute genre. We analyze the rhetorical characteristics of Bush’s State of the
Union Addresses with respect to identification and the three artistic proofs in the eight
addresses. Therefore, we explore the basic frame of analyzing the State of the Union
Addresses. Through Bush’s eight State of the Union Addresses, we can thoroughly see
his opinions and his rhetorical use of language. The purpose of this thesis is to reveal
the rhetorical process of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses and the rhetorical
strategies embodied in the discourse that he uses to influence his audience. Through
this thesis, we hope to give some valuable suggestions about speech making and to
push the development of speech theory and practice.
§1.3 Methodology and Data Description
This thesis proposes to conduct a qualitative analysis from the rhetorical
perspective. In this study, in order to analyze Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
thoroughly, we mainly adopt the rhetorician Kenneth Burke’s Identification theory,
Chaim Perelman’s Argumentation theory, and Aristotle’s theory of artistic proofs,
Lloyd F. Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation theory, and Generic Criticism theory. As the
focus of analysis will be on language, we collect a corpus of American President
George W. Bush’s eight State of the Union Addresses from 2001 to 2008, to build a
small pool of language data. All the transcripts of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
are downloaded from the Internet: http://www.whitehouse.gov/, the official web site
of the White House.
§1.4 Structure of the Thesis
This thesis is organized into five chapters.
Chapter One is a general introduction to the current study. It first introduces the
background and objectives of this study, and then the methodology and data to be
used, and finally presents an overview of the structure of this thesis.
Chapter Two explores the perception of State of the Union Addresses and Bush’s
Chapter One Introduction
3
State of the Union Addresses and provides a literature review of the previous studies
on this genre. Following the summary of previous studies is a brief description of the
present study, in which the author introduces a new rhetorical approach to Bush’s
State of the Union Addresses.
Chapter Three presents the theoretical preliminaries, that is, some key notions of
Western rhetoric. In this chapter, we review Aristotle’s theory of artistic proofs,
Kenneth Burke’s Identification theory, Chaim Perelman’s Argumentation theory,
Lloyd F. Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation theory, John M. Swales’ Genre theory and
Generic Criticism theory. These theories combine to constitute a basis for our critical
analysis.
Chapter Four is devoted to a rhetorical critique of Bush’s State of the Union
Addresses. This chapter is divided into four parts. Firstly, we analyze Bush’s State of
the Union Addresses as an absolute genre, and find the characteristics and the
differences between his eight State of the Union Addresses. Secondly, we analyze the
rhetorical situation in these addresses, including exigence, audience and constraints.
Thirdly, we use Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca’s Audience theory to analyze the
audience of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses. Finally, we define three artistic
proofs: ethos, pathos, and logos, and apply them in the critique of Bush’s State of the
Union Addresses.
Chapter Five draws a conclusion about the present study, and presents practical
implications for composition studies.
A Rhetorical Analysis of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
4
Chapter Two Literature Review
§2.1 Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
§2.1.1 Introduction to the State of the Union Address
The State of the Union Address is an annual speech the President of the United
States gives to Congress. It is usually an address to a joint session of Congress (the
House of Representatives and the Senate). On January 8th, 1790, American President
George Washington delivered the first annual speech to Congress. Since then, U.S.
presidents have given the Congress an assessment of the condition of the union. They
use the opportunity to present their goals and agenda through broad ideas or specific
details. And the messages’ length, frequency, and method of delivery have varied from
president to president and era to era.
At the beginning, the annual address was just presented to the Congress. With the
advent of radio and television, the presidents’ annual addresses have become not only
a conversation between the President and Congress, but also an opportunity for the
President to communicate with the American people at the same time. In 1923, Calvin
Coolidge gave the first annual address on radio. In 1935, Franklin Roosevelt used
“State of the Union”, a phrase later became the common name of the presidents’
annual addresses. In 1947, Harry Truman, Roosevelt’s successor, presented his State
of the Union Address on television. Since then, all of us have gradually known about
the State of the Union Addresses as a genre.
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/history.html)
Most annual addresses outline the Presidents’ legislative agenda and national
priorities in general or specific terms. In 1823, James Monroe discussed the
centerpiece of his foreign policy, now-known as the Monroe Doctrine, which called
on European countries to end western colonization. Lincoln famously expressed his
desire for slave emancipation in 1862, and in 1941, Franklin Roosevelt spoke about
the now famous four freedoms in his State of the Union address.
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/history.html)
The President delivers the speech from the podium at the front of the House
Chamber. And the State of the Union addresses usually last a little over an hour. Part
Chapter Two Literature Review
5
of the length of the address is due to the large amounts of applause that occur from the
audience throughout. The applause is somewhat political in tone, with many portions
of the address only being applauded by members of the President’s own party.
Applause typically indicates support.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_Address)
No matter what form, content, delivery method or broadcast medium is used, the
President’s annual address is of great importance for national unity. Through giving
the State of the Union Address, the President reviews the past and presents his hopes
for the future to Congress, the American people and the world. In the State of the
Union Address, the President traditionally outlines not only the administration’s
accomplishments over the previous year but also the agenda for the coming year, and
usually in optimistic terms. At some point during the address, the President usually
says “The State of our Union is strong” or a very similar phrase. Since the 1982
address, it has also become common for the President to acknowledge special guests
sitting near the First Lady in the gallery, such as everyday Americans or visiting
Heads of State. The guests are usually relevant to some part of the President’s address.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_Address)
§2.1.2 Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
As we all know, George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He
was sworn into office on January 20th, 2001, and was re-elected on November 2nd,
2004, so he was sworn in for a second term on January 20th, 2005. Prior to his
presidency, President Bush had served for 6 years as the 46th Governor of the State of
Texas. As a compassionate conservative, he shapes public policy based on the
principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families and local
control. Thus, he earns great reputation.
Since becoming President of the United States in 2001, George W. Bush has
already made eight State of the Union Addresses. With his particular language and the
special situation for each address, his eight State of the Union Addresses can be seen
as an absolute genre. Therefore, in this thesis we will take his eight addresses as a
genre and analyze them from a rhetorical perspective.
A Rhetorical Analysis of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
6
§2.2 Previous Studies on Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
Since the State of the Union Address plays a significant role in American
political life, Bush’s State of the Union Addresses attract more and more people’s
attention; they study these addresses from various perspectives. We have surfed the
websites www.cnki.net and www.wangfangdata.com.cn from 1999 to 2008, and found
more than 95% of the studies are concerned with social security, terrorism, economy,
policies, and so on, for example, articles on social security, such as “Analysis on
Social Security Reform in Bush’s State of the Union Address” (Chen Jun, 2006),
“Controversy on the Privatization of the American Social Security System” (Zheng
Bingwen, 2003), “On the Debated Reform of Social Security System in the U.S.”
(Chen Hong, 2006); articles on economy, such as “Major International Events this
Month” (Gao Zugui, 2002), “Advances in Behavioral Finance” (Thaler, 2005), “In
Swing-State Tour, Democrats To Target Economy” (Horsely, 2008); articles on
terrorism, such as “Some Reflections upon the So-called ‘Axis of Evil’” (Wang
Hongwei, 2002); articles on policies, such as “How Bush will Read Just His Home
and Foreign Policies in His Second Term-An Analysis of the State of the Union
Address” (Jiang Lin, 2005), “How Bush will Tend towards His His Home and Foreign
Policies in His State of the Union Address” (Shao Ming, 2002). In his paper, Chen Jun
holds that in Bush’s State of the Union Address 2005, Bush promotes the American
Social Security Reform, which produces great effect in American politics and
economy. Therefore, he insists that his study will be important to the further study of
American Social Security System.
Besides our Chinese researchers, foreign scholars have also done research on
Bush’s State of the Union Addresses. For example, Dave Michaels studies the
President Bush’s State of the Union Address in his paper “Analysis: President Bush’s
State of the Union Address” published in the Dallas Morning News in January 28,
2008 (Michaels, 2008). He studies the addresses from five aspects: economy, federal
budget, energy, health care, and immigration. James Fallows, an Atlantic
correspondent and former Presidential speechwriter, published his article “State of the
Union Address 2007: Instant Analysis” (Fallows, 2007), which mainly focuses on
Bush’s economic measures. Some other scholars approach important issues like war
on terror Bush’s promises (Zalman, 2007; Kaplan, 2008).
To sum up, although there are many articles about Bush’s addresses, they are
Chapter Two Literature Review
7
mainly focused on the content of Bush’s addresses. They haven’t analyzed Bush’s
State of the Union Address as a genre or as a whole. As Bush’s State of the Union
Addresses are so significant to the whole world, we should make up for this gap. We
should analyze Bush’s State of the Union Address from a new perspective, that is,
from a rhetorical perspective.
§2.3 The Present Research
We have made a brief review of previous studies on Bush’s State of the Union
Addresses, and found that not much attention has been paid to the rhetorical issues in
Bush’s State of the Union Addresses. The present study tries to make up for this
limitation and to shed some light on future studies on Bush’s State of the Union
Addresses by applying the rhetorical theories, for instance, theories by Kenneth Burke
and Aristotle.
A Rhetorical Analysis of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
8
Chapter Three Theoretical Preliminaries
§3.1 Kenneth Burke’s Identification
§3.1.1 Definition of Identification
Kenneth Burke, one of the most important rhetorician of the New Rhetoric in the
twentieth century, defines rhetoric as “the use of words by human agents to form
attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents” (Burke, 1969: 41). Earlier than
that, in 1950, he published the great book A Rhetoric of Motives, which mainly deals
with the strategies of persuasion. Burke suggests that the key term for rhetoric is
identification.
As to the term “Identification”, a proverb may capture its essence thoroughly:
“Birds of a feather flock together” (Deng, 2002: 41). In this thesis by identification is
meant the sharing of commonalities of any kind, physical or psychological, concrete
or abstract. As we ally ourselves with various properties or substances, we share
substance with whatever or whomever we associate. As two entities are united in
substance through common ideas, attitudes, material possessions, or other properties,
they are consubstantial (Foss, 2002: 192). We can identify with each other nationally,
religiously, economically, politically, and philosophically. Just as professor Deng
Zhiyong explains in his book Research on Rhetoric and Composition: Towards a
Rhetorical Model, “two men thinking in the same manner are said to identify with
each other; two men having the same emotion are said to identify with each other; two
men having the same value are said to identify with each other” (Deng, 2002: 42).
Burke uses the term “consubstantiality” synonymously with “identification”. In
Burke’s opinion, when one identifies himself with someone else, he becomes
consubstantial with him. “To identify A with B is to make A ‘consubstantial’ with B”
(Burke, 1950: 21). Therefore, the addresser usually makes his audience know the
similarities between their backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, values, beliefs and so
on, that is, they are consubstantial. Thus, the audience will usually follow the
addresser’s opinions.
Besides “consubstantiality”, we know that “Persuasion” and “Identification” are
the two key terms of the classical rhetoric and the New Rhetoric respectively.
Chapter Three Theoretical Preliminaries
9
According to Aristotle, rhetoric is the faculty of discovering the available means of
persuasion in a particular case. Therefore, persuasion is the end of rhetoric in classical
rhetoric. However, in New Rhetoric, identification is not only the end but also the
means of persuasion. Persuasion emphasizes producing influence on the audience
with some means; thus, the rhetor plays a lot more active role than the audience in the
process of persuasion. Identification, on the contrary, puts much emphasis on the
common ground and the communication of the two sides. Therefore, the rhetor and
the audience play an equal role during the persuasion and both of them hold a
cooperative attitude towards the rhetorical activity. Burke uses both identification and
persuasion in his thinking, as he (1950: 46) discusses the relationship between
identification and persuasion as follows:
We might well keep in mind that a speaker persuades an audience by the use of
stylistic identifications; his act of persuasion may be for the purpose of causing the
audience to identify itself with the speaker’s interests; and the speaker draws on
identification of interests to establish rapport between himself and his audience. So there
is no chance of our keeping apart the meanings of persuasion, identification
(“consubstantiality”) and communication (the nature of rhetoric as “addressed”).
According to Burke, identification functions in three basic ways. “It may be used
as a means to an end… A second kind of identification features the operation of
antithesis and involves the creation of identification among opposing entities on the
basis of a common enemy. … A third type of identification is used to persuade at an
unconscious level” (Foss, 2002: 192-193). Burke also insists that identification cannot
be understood apart from division. Just in the division lies a basic motive for rhetoric,
that is, people communicate in an attempt to eliminate division.
§3.1.2 Identification Model
As we mentioned above, we can identify with each other in various domains. To
be more specific, we may identify with each other in values, beliefs, attitudes, needs,
and other aspects of personal inclination.
According to James W. Vander Zander (1970: 57), values can be defined as “the
criteria or conceptions used in evaluating things (including objects, ideas, acts,
feelings, and events) as to their relative desirability or merit. Values define what is
A Rhetorical Analysis of Bush’s State of the Union Addresses
10
good, beautiful, moral, and worthwhile” (Deng, 2002: 88). When we talk about
self-respect, dignity, and freedom or patriotism, we are invoking values. In our daily
life, we usually evaluate objects, ideas, acts and feelings as to their values.
The Oxford Dictionary defines belief as feeling that something is true or real.
According to Professor Deng, belief may function as an important motivation, and
therefore is a common dimension of identification (Deng, 2002: 99).
Needs are mental reflections of physiological and social demands (Deng, 2002:
101). As human beings, we all need food, clothing, sleep, work, and social activities
to live and grow in the world. According to Abraham H. Maslow, human needs are
hierarchically ordered. He holds that the basic needs are the physiological needs for
air, water, and food. Once this need is satisfied, we turn to the next level, that is, the
safety need, then social needs and the esteem needs, and at last, the need for
self-actualization (Deng, 2002: 102). In this need hierarchy, we always start from the
lowest level of needs, that is, before striving to satisfy the higher level of needs, we
must satisfy the lower level of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is presented as
follows:
(Figure 3-1: Hierarchy of Human Needs)
In this figure, we can easily understand that men march forward through
satisfying their needs. In the levels of the five basic needs, the person does not fill the
second until the demands of the first have been satisfied, nor the third until the second
has been satisfied, and so on.
Self-actualization
achieving one’s full potential,
including creative activities
Esteem needs
prestige, fame, feeling of accomplishment, etc.
Belongingness and Love needs
social interactions
Safety needs
security, safety
Physiological needs
food, drink, oxygen, temperature
摘要：
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ChapterOneIntroduction1ChapterOneIntroduction§1.1ResearchBackgroundAsweknow,U.S.presidentsgivetheStateoftheUnionAddresseseveryyear.Theyusetheopportunitytopresenttheirgoalsandagendathroughbroadideasorspecificdetails.Althoughtherearevariouskindsofforms,content,deliverymethods,theirannualaddressesareab...
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