Aung San and Faith Bandler

?Today, lack of equality and peace are prominent issues which shape the world. Such things are demonstrated in Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech, ‘Keynote Address at the Beijing World Conference on Women’ and Faith Bandler’s speech, ‘Faith, Hope and Reconciliation’ through the use of various language devices. The common uses of emotive language between the two texts greatly affect the audience as it creates a sense of sympathy and unity. For example, ASSK states, ‘The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations. ’ the repetitive use of ‘struggle’ emphasizes the hardships for the people of Burma and their desire for freedom. It is a struggle for ‘young girls’ to be driven to ‘sexual slavery where they are subject to constant humiliation’, there is a struggle for freedom, dignity and security. Her use of emotive language and repetition enables the audience to sympathise with her and the people of Burma that the causes of these struggles are lack of equality and peace in the world or our ‘global village’. Similarly in Faith Bandler’s speech, emotive language and repetition are recognised once again to unify the audience and the speaker to create a sense of sympathy which draws upon the theme of inequality and peace. It was a rather slow process for her to understand, ‘when there are millions†¦who are hungry, millions who are homeless, millions who are without work, the wrongfully imprisoned, the deaths in custody, the tortured†¦why is it so hard to find our commonalities? ’, Faith stresses the absurdity of how difficult it is for people to find ‘commonalities’ with her use of repetition of ‘millions’. Its becomes a problem when ‘millions’ are hungry, homeless and jobless as it portrays our society as unequal. The rhetorical questions asked throughout her speech such as ‘why is it so hard to find our commonalities? ’ and ‘what is reconciliation about? ’ state the obvious truths, that it isn’t hard to find reconciliation or peace within the world. Faith demonstrates a world of inequality through the use of emotive language and repetition. Suu kyi and Bandler’s speeches are effective in connecting to their audience when demonstrating the theme of equality and peace. Both activists demonstrate unity to the audience by using inclusive language and first person. For example, as Suu Kyi acknowledges the ‘strong and principled women’ who have lobbied for her release, ‘I cannot let this opportunity pass without speaking of the gratitude we feel towards our sisters everywhere. ’ The use of first person and inclusive language is evident throughout the speech, it illustrates a personal approach to her audience as well as clearly portraying her firm views of women. Bandler’s speech is also evident of the use of these devices. By using first person throughout her speech, it indicates her familiarity with the audience as she was â€Å"here once before† and also shows that she speaks from a personal experience giving the audience an idea of what she has been through such as her work in campaigning and co founding various companies. In order to move the audience about reconciliation whether it’s the ‘youth’ or the ‘not so young’, her use of first person and inclusive language connects to the audience. Both ASSK and Bandler bring their audiences together as a whole to look at common issues of the world and better ways to bring peace.