During U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's speech to Mount Holyoke College's graduating class of women, she explains how she used her knowledge and her education to benefit more than herself. It covers a wide variety of topics such as nuclear weapons, the role of women in society, and the ramifications of perseverance through the use of diction, rehearsal, and repetition. Albright shares her experiences and changes made in countries around the world to demonstrate that graduates have the potential to do the same. It shines a light on how these women shouldn't stop impacting the world around them just because they graduated. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay One of the first topics Albright addresses in his speech is the impact nuclear weapons have on society. He uses his knowledge of the type of audience he is speaking to to his advantage by describing guns as "child mutilation (19)". This brutal use of diction was specifically chosen because she knew how she would introduce the speech to mothers-to-be and how she would hold their attention for the rest of her lecture. She also made sure to incorporate the juxtaposition between nuclear weapons and children to heighten the emotions of her audience. Albright also includes how “thanks to U.S. leadership, nuclear weapons no longer target our homes (15-16)” and how “we could relax (16),” but goes on to explain how she is involved in helping to ban nuclear weapons. forever. In this way she supports her opinion on the topic by revealing to her audience of women that just because the residents are safe, doesn't mean the rest of the world is too. If resources, such as U.S. leadership, were available, they should be used to permanently end the use of these barbaric weapons. She also uses the end of the fighting in Bosnia to support her claim and how they could avoid ensuring they never re-emerge again, but “instead let us renew our commitment and insist that the parties respect theirs (22-24)”. This statement implies the next moves Albright is making to ensure security in this country. By including this choice in her speech, Albright shows her audience how seemingly simple actions have the ability to expand and impact society on a larger scale. Additionally, Albright analyzes the status of women throughout history and in today's society through the use of credible evidence. She includes how women have gained a significant amount of rights and how they "could now lower [our] voices and, as some suggest, sit still (38-39)." This statement refers to the obstacles that women have had to overcome in the past and which it is society's duty not to resolve. Although women in the United States have made notable changes regarding their rights, many groups of women in other countries do not have this luxury. Albright describes to her audience her experiences in Sarajevo, Burundi, Guatemala and Burma explaining how women in these countries are not treated equally. For example, in Guatemala, Albright “spoke to women fighting to ensure that their new peace endures and is accompanied by justice and an end to discrimination and abuse (56-59).” This information supports her claim because it provides a model of women around the world who practice what Albright preaches to her audiences. Furthermore, Albright reveals that "these women have in.
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