Midterm
A1) What was the speech occasion for RFK’s speech in Indianapolis? Ceremonial, deliberative
or forensic? Define these terms using Zarefksy and explain the speech occasion for the RFK
speech using his words and what you now know about the moment to support your claims.
The occasion for Robert Kennedy’s speech was a combination of ceremonial,
deliberative, and forensic. According to David Zarefsky (2017), ceremonial occasions occur in
situations such as “delivering a eulogy” (p.8), which Kennedy did as he praised Dr. King’s life.
As well, Zarefsky also defines deliberative occasions as being “concerned with what should be
done” (p.8), and Kennedy does precisely this when he urges the city of Indianapolis to not give
in to temptation of rioting following the news of Dr. King’s death. Kennedy also uses forensic
occasion, which is described as “rendering judgement” (p.8); this is achieved through Kennedy
determining that the best course of action would be to not attempt to exact revenge for the
assassination of Dr. King.
A2) What is meant by the term exigence and what exigence (or exigencies) did RFK address in
this speech?
Exigence is defined by Zarefsky as “a problem that cannot be avoided but can be solved,
or at least managed, through the development of an appropriate message” (p.9). Kennedy’s
exigence was the discontent felt by the people of Indianapolis that could have fallen to the use of
violence without Kennedy’s speech, which assuaged their desire to riot.
A3) As a speaker, what was RFK’s general purpose and specific purpose in this speech?
Kennedy’s general purpose was to persuade Indianapolis to avoid rioting after Dr.
King’s death. His specific purpose was to urge his audience to continue following Dr. King’s
path of nonviolence and not react maliciously and harmfully to the community by rioting and
wreaking havoc.
B1) What mode of speech presentation did RFK use to deliver this speech - impromptu,
manuscript, memorized, or extemporaneous? Define these terms and discuss which one best
describes RFK’s speech. Support your claims with what you see and hear from Kennedy in the
video clip.
According to Zarefsky, impromptu speeches are given without any preparation,
manuscript speeches are read from scripts, memorized speeches are memorized and given
verbatim; however, extemporaneous speeches are carefully planned but never written out fully or
memorized, with the speaker referring to notes or an outline (p.12). Kennedy’s speech was
extemporaneous, as he is seen a few times in his speech glancing towards the sheet of paper he is
holding, but he never reads completely from it, and he prepared enough to know his speech
without having to constantly reference his note paper.
B2) Zarefksy says that “effective delivery builds a sense of community between speaker and
audience,” especially via showing empathy with listeners (p. 39). In what way, with his words
and actions, did Kennedy show empathy toward his audience and how, if it all, did that help
build a community between himself and his grieving audience that night?
Midterm
Zarefsky describes empathy as “[giving the audience] a sense that [the speaker] knows
what they think and can feel what they feel” (p.39), and that it is important to building effective
delivery. Kennedy does just this as he relates the assassination of Dr. King to the assassination of
his brother, President John F. Kennedy. This helps the audience relate to his call for non-
violence, as he as experienced the same pain and has gotten through it without needing to riot.
As well, Kennedy does other things Zarefsky mentions as beneficial to creating effective
delivery, such as maintaining eye contact and utilizing hand gestures (p.39).
C1) Zarefsky details two behaviors a speaker ought to avoid – stereotyping and being
condescending. Define these terms as Zarefsky does. Why should a speaker avoid them. Did
RFK engage in either of these? If so, where/when? If not, how did he manage to address an
audience so different from himself and not engage in stereotyping or talking down to them?
Zarefsky defines stereotyping as “assuming that all members of a demographic category
are alike in all respects” (p.83) and condescending as “assuming that listeners are not capable of
thinking about a subject and reaching their own conclusions” (p.89). Speakers should avoid these
as they cause an audience to ignore or resent the speaker. Kennedy engaged in neither of these
behaviors, by addressing his audience not as people who were ready to riot, but as fellow
citizens, and he speaks to them calmly and gently.
D1) Through his family’s very public life and public service, Kennedy had a fair amount of
positive initial ethos going into the speech. How did he maintain and, perhaps, even enhance his
ethos with the audience in his speech?
Kennedy maintained his ethos by alluding to the assassination of his brother so as to
build his credibility as a person who knows the pain his audience is feeling. Kennedy also
maintained his ethos by utilizing Dr. King’s ideals of non-violence to urge hid audience to
continue to follow his path and not give in to rioting.
D2) In what ways did Kennedy elicit pathos appropriate for the moment? How, if at all, did his
use of ancient poetry help him do this?
Kennedy elicited pathos by calling for unity among his audience and the rest of country
and tried to unite them as American citizens and not feel divided. He also brought up somber
religious tones which urged his audience to not fall to violence. His use of ancient poetry also
elicited an emotional response, as his poetry concluded that personal pain leads to wisdom on a
subject: which helps his audience feel that they can learn from this rather than seeing violence as
their only option.
Midterm
Reference
Zarefsky, D. (2017). Public Speaking: Strategies for Success(8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
