Assertion Analysis #11

“In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me – and by that time no one was left to speak up.” - Pastor Martin Niemoller

Pastor Martinv Niemoller is speaking about things that he regrets from the times when he was indifferent to things that were happening around him. He never stood up for anyone and just stood by the sidelines as everyone was being taken away. He stood by on others for such a long time that when it was his turn to go everyone was already gone. And no one was there to help him because he never stood up for anyone as no one will for him. He encourages in a way for people to speak up for others and not be as indifferent as he was, before its too late for you. 

In this quotation Niemoller uses a lot of anaphora. He repeats the same structure in every sentence. He first declares who it was then the reason why he didn't speak up. He repeats "and I didn't speak up," "I wasn't" and "They came for" for every time he was indifferent toward the situation.  His whole quotation has connotation in it. He is making two separate points. For one he is talking about how he regrets not being able to make a change, and second he is making a point. He is stating how  things are repeated in history. The same things are repeated in history, but in order to stop the cycle in history, one most step out and make that change. 

Assertion Analysis #10

"Ye monsters of the bubbling deep,

Your Maker's praises spout;

Up from the sands ye codlings peep,

And wag your tails about."

-Cotton Mather 

Cotton Mather is a Puritan minister and leader in America. He strongly hated and opposed witches. He wrote a whole book dedicated to witches. He wrote about an experiment he made with witches and ways in which people can take action if they stat sensing certain things and are under attack by a witch. Mather believed that witches were associated with the devil and that is how they got their powers to curse others. He saw witches as monsters beside the devil. For one to be saved from such witchery, Cotton strongly believed that going to God and the Bible would save one. In Mather's eyes witches were terrible creatures that take the mask of humans and do terrible witch craft, making people lives miserable. In this post Mather is speaking ill of witches and expressing his hate to them. 

Cotton Mather uses irony in this quote. He uses language as though he is casting a spell. He is using the language of the people he hates the most to criticize them. This causes confusion to the audience because he is using the language that he hates, but why? People during his time might even think that he might have been possessed. In addition to the way in which the poem/assertion sounds, the way it's structured is also very suspicious, and makes it look like a spell or incantation. Instead of being as straightforward, Cotton Mather uses "Ye Monsters of the bubbling deep"to represent the evil witches from hell, hence the bubbling deep referring to the deep dark depths of the ocean. 

Assertion Analysis #9

“I don’t think these leaders will be able to make a real dent in the Negro community in terms of swaying 22 million Negroes to this particular point of view. And I contend this cry of ‘Black Power’ is at bottom a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice the reality for the Negro...I think we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard and what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear the economic plight of the Negro poor which has worsened over the last few years" -Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. believes that the current leaders of the country will not be of any help to the Negros. Nor will the future leaders. For if nothing is to change now, then nothing will change. For their to be a change in the Negro community, then thy must be heard. America has failed to hear them for so long, it's now the time for them to be heard. Martin Luther King Jr. is seeking for everyone to listen to them now, for they have failed to do so for so long. They have gone as far as rioting in order for their voice to be heard. They will no longer be neglected, and make themselves heard. 

In this quotation MLK uses a lot of repetition, as well as using anaphora. He repeats negro a lot because he is speaking for all the Negros in America. He also tend to use the word Negro instead of African American because no one refers to them as African American because they don't acknowledge that they are Americans as well. He also uses anaphora by repeating the phrase "failed to hear." He uses it to emphasize more on the point he is trying to make, and if he were to be talking in a large group, the words that one repeats are always the words that one remembers, "Failed to hear" is one of the main points MLK Jr. is making about the Negro community. Martin Luther King Jr.'s tone throughout the quotation is serious, in order for people to understand that he matter that he us speaking of is very important. 

Assertion Analysis #8

“For we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our god in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of god and all professors for Gods sake; we shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into Curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whether we are going."- John Winthorp

John Winthrop explains in his assertion on how all eyes are set on them, the puritans and their religion. He explains that god himself has everyone put an eye out on them for if they do any bad-doings then God can withdraw himself from them. They are the chosen ones from God, and they have to follow all of God's orders as stated in the bible. The people have started to speak bad of the Puritan religion since the "chosen ones" have made everything questionable. The people no longer pray with them, they now curse at them. They oppose the Puritans, the servants of God.
In his quotation Winthrop uses connotation, tone and an extended metaphor. He uses an extended metaphor with the "City upon a Hill" in comparison to the church. The church is at the very top and everyone's eyes are set on it. If the church were to do bad, then everyone will see and oppose the church and its followers.  His tone throughout the assertion is serious, expressing to the audience that he truly believes in the church and God, and that there are those who oppose it. Winthrop has negative connotation throughout his quotation from the use of negative words such as "withdraw" "curses" and "falsely." His negative connotation expresses his feelings on how bad things could go if something bad were to happen to the church and things go wrong. 

Assertion Analysis #7

"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor... but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die...we die defending our rights." - Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa Lakota)

In this assertion Sitting Bull is talking about how he was born a native and how he doesn't plan on becoming a white man anytime soon. He believes that everyone has different beliefs and sometimes they do not necessarily understand each other. In his case the red man and the white man do not get along and he believes that if he, the great spirit in which he believes, would have made him a white man then maybe he would of wished to do the same as the white man does. But since he is a red man he doesn't quite like the ways of the white man and he chooses to not follow such orders from those he quite differs to. He was born a red man and he desires to stay that way. White men and Red men see things differently as they are very different people, but in their eyes the way they do things is always right, "each man is good in his sight." But then again Sitting Bull claims that they are both still very different, red man is red and a white man is white you can't turn white into red. The white and red man have different sights, opposite to one another, making it impossible for Sitting bull to become a white man. He will not let the white man take control of the red people because the life that the red man was living before the arrival of he white man was poor but free and in the society that the white man was creating, the red mans ideals would be crushed and changed. And if the white man wants to kill the red man if they don't follow under their command, Sitting Bull declares that they would rather die defending their rights. 

Siting Bull gets straight to the point in his first statement, making it concise and simple so everyone who'd read or hear it would understand, "I am a red man." He first makes his statement, then later explains what it is he means throughout his assertion. He also uses an extended metaphor using it to describe the situation the white and red man are in by making a comparison of eagles and crows. There is also a shift in his quotation. He first starts by using a lot of "I's" he is only talking about one individual, about himself, but near he end of his quotation, after making his comparison of the eagles and crows, he starts to say "we." He went from speaking only about himself to speaking about all the red people, about all his naive brothers and sisters.