In your blog response, detail specifically three themes with support from the speech. 250 words.
The Great Dictator: Final Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4
final_speech_from_the_great_dictator.docx |
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Charlie Chaplin was known for his comedic genius, dominating the silent movie industry. "The Great Dictator," which Chaplin starred, wrote, directed, produced, and scored, was essentially Chaplin's first talking movie. Released in 1940, Chaplin examines satirically the rise of fascism and the rise of Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco. Chaplin astutely displays the symbols and the soldiers that enforce dictatorships as well as confronts anti-semitism, This speech concludes the film. Watch the clip and identify three key themes that strike you. After identifying three themes, inspect the word document to identify how the speech appeals to the audience. Here, you will inspect whether pathos (emotional appeal), logos (use of facts), or ethos (the power of the speaker's persona and experience) are used to develop the themes. In your blog response, detail specifically three themes with support from the speech. 250 words. The Great Dictator: Final Speech http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4
74 Comments
From what I read and interpreted the three key themes are,
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Maurie
8/21/2013 04:28:35 am
The theme of your's that I agree with most is "All people that follow fascism, are but tools to gain power. (In the leaders' eyes)" I also mentioned a theme similar to this one, under "Dictators and Greed." What I like about the most, about your blog post, is that you incorporated how you felt after watching this clip, and how you would have responded as if you were in the audience.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:01:00 am
You develop a strong sense of the abuse of power through the abuse of men. Work on better integration of your examples into larger sentences. This might require breaking them up to develop the call to action.
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Bethany Balentine
8/31/2013 11:20:04 pm
I can easily read your point of view on Charlie Chaplin's speech and liked that before you went into the paragraph you have 3 points easily shown. I also like the quote that you used and it made your point stronger. :)
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Yahaira Sarabia Pacheco
8/20/2013 04:27:17 am
The first theme of the speech is the greed of mankind. Greed, in the eye's of the speaker, has "poisoned men's souls." The greed in people has made them covetous, cruel, insensitive, and machine-like. The second theme was the evilness of dictators. The hate of dictators was so strong that it was said that the dictators "will die." The dictators tortured, imprisoned innocent people, and greatly discouraged them. The dictators were called "machine men" because they shut off all their natural human emotions, treat people like trash, enslave them, and tell them what to do. Dictators were the main enemy because of their indifference to anything but their own power. The last theme is the hope for a "free and beautiful life." With the oppression of the enemy and the dictator there couldn't be a free life and that is why they had to get rid of them. The loss of life that they caused didn't make it possible for anyone to have the life they hoped for. But that freedom is up to the people. In the speech it says "You the people have the power." As long as they choose to come together for their rights, they can get them if they are determined. The speech appeals to the audience with pathos because it connected with their emotion and their want for a better life. The speech is thrown to the audience. They have the power, and whether they want freedom and equality, would be up to them and their willingness to get it.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:03:05 am
You have a strong integration of quotes. You connect the example with the analysis well. Work on developing an even balance within the paragraph by developing more analysis after each quote rather than at the end of the paragraph.
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Beau T
8/29/2013 12:48:14 am
I understand your point and your three themes, also i believe your themes are very strong and towards your opinion of what you think is going on in the speech. I mostly agreed with your second theme i had a sort of the same theme and I could reflect on your themes. Good work!
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Cj W.
8/29/2013 03:07:12 am
I really loved that you didn't just throw the quotes from his speech in your response. You gave a clear examples and the parts of the quotes that supported the theme.
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Cj W.
8/20/2013 04:59:34 am
Theme: Democracy/Freedom for All
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Maurie
8/21/2013 04:53:59 am
I agree with all your points, but the only thing I would suggest is not to start out each paragraph with a number of quotes. I did like how you neatly organized your thoughts into readable paragraphs.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:04:19 am
You have clear examples. Work on integrating the examples into sentences which explore how they develop the specific themes more directly.
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daniel c.
8/30/2013 10:44:54 pm
Your themes are clear cut CJ, but just as Maurie pointed out, don't begin every paragraph with quotes. Other than that, your blog was great
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Bethany Balentine
8/31/2013 11:23:36 pm
What I like most about this is the formatting of the 3 key themes and that I can easily tell which ones you described. Your use of quotes made your writing stronger and makes I, the reader understand exactly what you are trying to get across.
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Hope BonenClark
8/20/2013 06:50:36 am
Charlie Chaplin’s concluding speech in “The Great Dictator” consists of numerous underlying themes. A few of the most prominent include the potential rediscovery of life, the inhumanity of men in the setting of the film, and the exigency to unify people regardless of their differences. “The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way.” By saying this Chaplin is addressing the fact that humanity has been corrupted and it has strayed too far from what it was created to be. However, Chaplin does use the words “can be”. This exhibits his belief that life does not have to remain lost. If people could come together, unified, then the situation could be drastically improved. In various other areas of the speech, Chaplin reiterates how the unification of all people is paramount and he stresses his belief that “the people have the power”. However, with power comes responsibility and as Chaplin points out, it is being wrongly used for inhumane purposes by the majority. “We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity.” In this statement Chaplin expresses the need for change more than ever by appealing to his audience’s personal understanding. The speech takes place at a time when mechanical advancements are beginning to escalate and are, according to the public, of the utmost importance. He uses pathos by playing deeply into his audience’s emotions especially with his use of imagery, as when he compares men to machines and cattle in order to capture his audience’s attention and have them visualize the true meaning of his speech.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:05:41 am
Hope, you have a strong academic discussion here. In the future, integrate the quotes into larger sentences which connect the support with a specific idea.
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Raegan C.
8/31/2013 11:14:53 pm
Excellent word choice! I actually had to google exigency because I'd never seen the word before. I also like how you didn't choose the straightforward themes, instead looking for the underlying themes.
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Tasha Snider
8/20/2013 06:54:46 am
The three main themes that stood out to me in the Final Speech from The Great Dictator:
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:07:27 am
Tasha, you set up a clear path for your analysis at the start of the blog. You develop the analysis with strong examples and connection to core ideas that are your focus.
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Cj W.
8/28/2013 07:50:13 pm
Tasha,
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Angelique K.
8/28/2013 10:17:19 pm
Tasha, I agree with all of your points that you made in your blog. The way you set up your blog, makes it very clear for the reader to understand what you are discussing. Your use of quotes really helps develop strong examples for the reader to understand what you are talking about, overall this a really good blog post.
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Raegan C.
8/20/2013 07:45:26 am
The three main themes of Chaplin's speech at the end of "The Great Dictator" are the innate goodness of mankind, the need to reclaim our organic connection to one another, and the need to resist being used as moving parts in a machine bent on destroying the very things we do want and desire.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:09:37 am
You clearly understand what quotes support your ideas. When using long quotes, it can become difficult to develop more specific analysis. Consider breaking down the quotes into smaller chunks to give a stronger impact when you connect them to your own ideas.
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Tasha Snider
8/29/2013 01:41:17 am
We had some of the same points!
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Hope
8/31/2013 01:39:38 am
I really liked reading your post, I agree with all of your points and I was impressed by your word choice and the way in which you incorporated the quotes you chose to support your points.
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Gabrielle L
8/31/2013 06:44:56 am
I agree with all your points. You have strong quotes with nice analysis. It was a bit difficult to read the third chunk, so breaking it up would be helpful (: Overall great post!!
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Jurrien A.
8/20/2013 04:00:19 pm
Three Themes
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:11:35 am
Jurrien, you clearly identify the focus. Work on developing this focus in a topic sentence. As you develop specific quotes work on integration into a sentence which connects with a specific idea. Your opinion matters in this class.
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Stephen M
8/21/2013 06:29:12 am
3 good themes, and well supported. Really liked the
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Raegan C.
8/31/2013 11:46:24 pm
You know, your only problem as a writer and an analyst is your constant self deprecation. If you have an opinion, own it. If you don't, chase the facts, form one, and then own it. Apathy has no place in a writer.
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Angelique K.
8/21/2013 02:08:49 am
The concluding speech of Charlie Chaplin’s talking movie “The Great Dictator,” had three themes, which really struck me:
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:14:03 am
Angelique you have strong, clear examples and ideas. When using quotes from the text, you need to connect your analysis in the same sentence, rather than separate it with a period after the quote.
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Yahaira Sarabia
8/22/2013 05:01:27 am
I agree with your first theme that people want to help one another and that it is our nature. I also agree with his use of pathos because it was a good way for him to win over their sensitivities. By doing that, people will be able to work more unified for what they want and they will make greater impact.
Gabrielle L
8/31/2013 06:55:07 am
Angelique, I like and agree with all 3 of your themes as well as your ideas and commentary! :) How you analyzed the pathos/logos/ethos in each theme first and then evaluated the overall rhetorical was great too. I also noticed that used you "struck me" repetitively.
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Maurie
8/21/2013 03:05:38 am
1. “What We Are vs. What We Should Be.”
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:15:34 am
Maurie, you provide clear identification of the themes. Work on developing more specific support/quotes from the text to enhance your development of them in the paragraphs.
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Angelique K.
8/28/2013 10:25:10 pm
I agree with all of the themes that you point out. I like how you organized them, it makes it obvious to the reader which theme belongs with which paragraph. For next time, you might want to use more quotes because they can help you get your point across even clearer, plus the reader will have an easier time understanding where you are coming from.
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beau T
8/29/2013 12:51:11 am
I really liked your point of view, also because it was complex enough to not "dumb it down", but at the same time simple enough to truly understand what you are writing while only having to read it once.
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Molly R
8/21/2013 03:44:02 am
In the final speech scene of Charlie Chaplain’s The Great Dictator (1940), he addresses copious themes such as, the need for tolerance, the loss of innocence, and the power of love, which culminate to illustrate his ideas that the greatest of leaders feel no need for power, but instead just want to help the people for the sake of the people. That the true emperor, a job he declined at the beginning would rule the people and conquer the people, instead Chaplain wanted to help the people, and by doing so he urges them to embody the central themes previously mentioned. One of these themes being the need for tolerance, which is demonstrated in the third sentence, “I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white.” Chaplain is talking about his own tolerance and thus, urges the reader to do so. He further motivates the reader by saying helping others is human nature, that “human beings are like that”. Chaplain also ends this speech with this theme by urging the reader, “to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.” In this Chaplain says to do away with intolerance, thus promoting tolerance. Chaplain is saying to have a unified world you must first be tolerant. Chaplain uses the next theme, the loss of innocence, to further expand the initial idea of helping people for the sake of people by identifying that the “Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity, more than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.” This relates back to the previous theme because as an effect of this loss of innocence, we need to be tolerant. The knowledge we have has made us harsh, and we need to regain this innocence so we can be free and beautiful. The third theme also ties into the overall idea of the piece because it is Chaplain, again, trying to bestow upon the reader his idea on how to achieve perfect, peaceful unification. Chaplain says that, “You have the love of humanity in your hearts.” This line is primarily, his acknowledgement of the power of love. Chaplain goes on to say how “ You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.” Here again we see Chaplain using “free and beautiful” as it pertains to the ideal life, this is done because Chaplain wants to further urge the people into helping each other and to in turn unite. Overall, Chaplain uses pathos to convey strong emotion and help the reader visualize this the machine-caused corruption. Chaplain uses imagery and strong verbs to engage the reader and invoke this call to action.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:18:43 am
Molly, you have strong examples. When incorporating quotes into a sentence, make sure they are integrated to create a complete sentence, by omitting an unnecessary comma. Focus on building the specific idea rather than the act of saying.
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Georgie P
8/29/2013 10:39:04 pm
I like the fact that all of your themes are solid and interlink: when you are younger you believe that the world is all perfect and right, then when you lose your innocence you see that the world is not a tolerant place but that love is imoprtant in salvaging that lack of tolerance. Great work :)
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Alyssa D
8/31/2013 09:13:21 am
I think you had really great examples and did a good job of elaborating on them. Though separating each point may have helped make it more readable :)
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Gabrielle L
8/21/2013 04:06:04 am
After hearing the final speech of The Great Dictator (1940), the three themes that most attract my attention are ‘Humanity is Mutually Good and Has the Power to Overcome Greed’, ‘Democracy and Liberty’, and ‘Humanity over Machinery’. Overall, Charlie Chaplin used pathos to mostly establish these themes. Also, speeches are usually meant to stir people into action by arousing their emotions and inducing nostalgia.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:21:03 am
Gabrielle, you have strong examples that you integrate well into larger sentences. Spend a little more time on developing the depth of the analysis of each specific theme.
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Alyssa D
8/31/2013 09:17:46 am
You have good points and examples which you elaborate. I also liked the way you organized your response.
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RachelP
8/21/2013 04:21:43 am
In the speech "The Great Dictator", Charlie Chaplin tries to appeal to the senses of his audience and stresses three key themes that can be found naturally in all men and women.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:23:44 am
You have strong analysis, but you tend build your paragraph as if leading up to the quote rather than your analysis leading from the quote. Moving the quotes forward will provide you an opportunity for more specific analysis.
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Sarah P
8/21/2013 07:14:44 am
I also felt as though unity was one of the main themes of the speech. I felt that Chaplin really showed the importance of it by showing what happens when a nation is not united. Chaplin also shows how unity allows there to be democracy. The people are able to have power once the nation is working together and in sync.
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Ryan M
8/21/2013 04:21:54 am
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:26:12 am
Ryan, you have the support for your position. Spend a bit more time on the analysis and integration of the quotes by directly linking the idea with the support. Avoid "it says."
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Yahaira S.
8/28/2013 01:51:26 am
Good job on this. I would suggest to give more of an argument when you are making your points, but other than that good job. You had a good use of quoting in the right places.
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Darel M.
9/26/2013 07:20:16 pm
Good job dude. You used good examples to support your themes and I completley agree with the last paragraph
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Darel M.
8/21/2013 05:49:20 am
The main theme I interpreted was democracy. He believes that the people can change the world by being free and united. When there is freedom of all mankind, he believes that the world will be a better place of less greed and hatred. In the last part of the speech, he mentions "We all want to live by each others happiness and not misery." This generally implies that in a world full of peaceful and caring, happy human beings, it will be much better and love each other and not use the hate we have for a certain race to have dominance over.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 05:53:06 am
Darel, you develop a strong historical context for the issues of WWII. When building your analysis utilize specific quotes from the speech to center your development of the themes.
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Stephen M
8/21/2013 06:37:44 am
10/10 bro, really liked the machinery connection. Mr. Delk right there! The themes were right on, especially with the standing up for their rights one. It did sound like his main intent was to get people to question the Nazi Regime, and for the soldiers to question the purpose of their campaign.
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daniel c.
8/21/2013 05:53:11 am
Three themes that strike me most are the importance of unity, how the wrong qualities can change a man, and that democracy is something worth fighting for. In the speech, Charlie Chaplin strongly states the importance of unity when he says "cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all", and why it is necessary for all people to come together and fight as one. Chaplin states that dictators make promises to the people that they never fulfill and Chaplin makes a promise to the people that coming together as one will "free the world."
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 08:12:33 am
Good integration of the quotes from the text by connecting them with specific ideas. Note: you don't need to use "I think" when structuring your response.
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Sarah P.
8/29/2013 07:44:39 pm
Good job finding the themes that were in the speech. They were not right on the surface, they were more so underlying themes. You did a good job explaining them with references to the speech.
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Stephen M
8/21/2013 06:25:46 am
Theme 1 – Natural Tendency for Good
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 08:20:11 am
Stephen, you build a strong dialogue between the text and your analysis. One note, when incorporating quotes, you do not capitalize the first word.
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Hope
8/31/2013 01:47:30 am
I really enjoyed reading yours because of how organized you were in addressing each theme, and I thought the quotes you chose supported the themes very well.
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Buse D.
8/21/2013 06:52:04 am
The three themes in Charlie Chaplin's speech ''The Great Dictator'' are first of all that human beings supposed to be kind, helpful and happy to and for each other. They should be good to one another. But they turned into cruel machines and like Chaplin says they ''lost the way''. They lost their kindness and their logical train of thought because of all the hate that was going on around the world at that time. This would be the second theme: Greed. The Greed of power. Chaplin shows his contempt for mankind like the dictators. He says that ''unloved and unnatural men hate'' and the ones with ''machine minds and machine hearts''. He kind of wants to say that these men already are machines in the skin of a human. He is right about that ''our knowledge has made us cynical,
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 08:24:42 am
Buse, you provide a nice level of support for your ideas and link it to analysis.
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Sarah P
8/21/2013 07:12:22 am
“The Great Dictator” was certainly one of the most influential speeches of the time, and possibly still today, in my personal opinion. Charlie Chaplin’s speech includes much information on the flaws of mankind but also covers the potential humanity has to succeed. In the speech, I personally feel Charlie Chaplin was trying to portray the message that, you choose your own destiny. This theme was very apparent in the speech, for it explained that life is what you make it. “The way of life can be beautiful,” You are in control of your fate and how your life pans out. Also something that I felt was indirectly addressed was the fact that we, the people have caused deterioration of human progress. Whether they are known as good, bad, virtuous, or corrupt, everyone has contributed to the decline of humankind. "Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity." This idea is pointing out that the machinery we may have thought to be progressive, is really causing selfishness and greed within people, the things we know have caused us to be very negative and pessimistic. Most importantly, we need humanity restored. We have caused it to fail consistently and are in need of some positive actions. Lastly, Unity because of democracy was clearly depicted in Chaplin's speech. "You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure." Democracy is nothing more than allowing the people to have power. Chaplin clearly shows that the people are in power, therefore a democracy is present. Chaplin goes on to say that they shall take this democracy to unite. Unity is most important to keep the people happy and have a strong and progressive nation. I feel as though this speech is very appealing to the audience because not only is it very straight forward and easy to understand, it is also very relatable. The people can relate to what he is saying and possibly make changes based off of what Chaplin said. I personally believe that through his themes, Chaplin used pathos to reach out to the listener’s/reader’s emotions. The concept of the speech was to change how the people feel about society in order to get them to understand his message.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 08:26:57 am
Sarah, you develop a strong connection to the relevance of Chaplin's points. Note: avoid I and work on connecting the quotes to your sentences through the use of the colon.
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Georgie P
8/29/2013 10:42:43 pm
I like the fact that you recognised some of the underlying themes instead of simply the obvious ones. You used your quotations well and they all fitted the context of your piece. Well done!
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daniel c.
8/30/2013 10:48:20 pm
Great themes that you pointed out Sarah, but just like Ms. Moriconi suggested for me, don't use I in your blog. Other than that small error, great response!
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Alyssa D
8/21/2013 07:55:47 am
Three themes within Chaplin’s speech are the natural compassion within humans, fascism, and the dangers of greed. He begins with, “We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another.” Chaplin recognizes an innate tendency within people to care for one another, believing despite all conflicts and prejudices, we find no happiness in the misery of others. When addressing fascism he adds, “Soldiers: don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder!” and “Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men,
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Ms. Moriconi
8/21/2013 08:28:42 am
Alyssa, you have clear support. When working with quotes, breaking them up to deal with the specific elements provides for a stronger analysis.
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Trey Chestnut
8/22/2013 01:06:57 am
Although this speech in Chaplin's film is rich in detail and can be interpreted in a variety of ways, three themes in particular stand out. These are: man's natural capacity for compassion, the abuse of technology and science, and the ideal democracy.
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Ms. Moriconi
8/22/2013 06:34:07 am
Trey, you clearly identify three themes and support. Work on developing more analysis of the examples that you give.
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Bethany B.
8/22/2013 06:34:02 am
The three key themes to Charlie Chaplin's the Great Dictator speech is that everyone likes to help everyone, therefore this is a personal matter and involves everyone, not just a certain group. He states "We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not each other's misery." All people have lost the way with the war and are using violence. "Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed." Unity is a main theme in the speech as well. If they unite and fight enough the people can gain power once again. "Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power, let us all unite!"
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Ms. Moriconi
8/22/2013 07:47:04 am
Bethany, you have good evidence. You need to work on connecting the example with a larger idea/analysis within the same sentence to create a better flow. Avoid "he says" (the act of saying) vs. framing an idea (analysis)
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Tasha Snider
8/29/2013 01:42:58 am
I love the quotes you chose! Your transitions could be smoother, but you were able to pick out /really/ nice quotes when it came to supporting your ideas. I enjoyed reading it!
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Georgie P
8/29/2013 10:37:00 pm
The first theme that I noticed in Charlie Chaplin’s Final Speech from The Great Dictator (1940) is the theme of unity. Chaplin uses anaphora to express his values that ‘we all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery’ and that ‘we don’t want to hate and despise one another’. In this way, he uses the logical fallacy of sentimental appeal in order to express the view that the world should be full of love and support for one another regardless of race – ‘I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white’ he states, a stark contrast to the general racist views of American citizens at that moment in time. The use of sentimental appeal as well as the emphasizing effect of the anaphora contributes to the pathos of the speech in general making it a hard hitting, emotional read. Furthermore, the serious, grave tone of the speech is a stark contrast to Chaplin’s usual ethos; seeing as Chaplin is generally a comedian, the fact that he is speaking so frankly about a tough subject is special to the audience, causing them to listen more intently to what he has to say. This, then, is an Argument from Authority.
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