Hu Chenyang (Sam)

1194114

ENG1430 W05

Christopher Binstead

Rhetorical Analysis

Final Draft

2022-7-2

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Matthew McConaughey (2022) made a speech to call for stopping gun violence

in the white house. According to McConaughey, Uvalde is the place where he grew up

and he leaned the responsibility of gun ownership. McConaughey stated that he met

many victims’ families and they told him the moving stories of each victim.

McConaughey reported that Alithia is a 10 years old girl whose dream is to go to art

school in Paris. Her father got a better job with a higher salary about a week before

the shooting in Uvalde and was going to take her to SeaWorld. Furthermore,

McConaughey stated that Maite who wanted to become a marine biologist was a nine

years boy. McConaughey described that when Maite died, he wore Green Converse

which is the only thing that can recognize him. McConaughey also reported Ellie and

Irma’s stories. Ellie was a lovely girl who had been preparing for Wednesday's bible

reading a week before she died. Irma was one of the teachers who was shot. Her

husband died after the shooting because of a heart attack that some say was brought

on by his wife's death. McConaughey expressed that the American laws need to add
more requirements for gun buyers. Every American citizen should have the duty to

own guns. This essay will show that Matthew McConaughey effectively argues that

American laws do not restrict gun purchases enough by using his experience as a gun

owner born in Uvalde, the stories of the victims and their parent’s sadness and anger,

and the logic for change to the law for gun purchases.

The speaker of the speech is Matthew McConaughey who is a Hollywood actor

and star of many successful movies and TV shows. His hometown is Uvalde. He's

very convincing because he's a Hollywood superstar and he was born in Uvalde. The

speech is made on June 7th two weeks after the Uvalde shooting. The venue for the

speech is the White House. McConaughey was speaking to the whole American

nation. The purpose of the speech is to call for stopping gun violence and making a

logical change in gun laws. McConaughey hoped to have stricter laws and

requirements for gun buyers. The topic of the speech is stopping gun violence in

America. McConaughey expressed extreme anger and sadness about the shooting.

When he did the speech in front of White House correspondents, he sobbed through

the speech. His international influence can connect many people with him.

First, it will analyze how McConaughey supports his claims with reliable facts

and personal experience. McConaughey described his experience as a gun owner in

Uvalde. Uvalde is the place where he was born. Uvalde taught him how to use BB

guns when he was a child. He graduated to a 410 shotgun. How to use the guns and

having the duty to own the guns are the two things that he learned in Uvalde.

McConaughey is a highly educated gun user, which makes his story all the more
convincing and credible. His experience also shows that Uvalde does not have

extensive supervision over gun purchases of all ages. The ease with which guns can

be purchased at Uvalde reflects the low requirements for gun buyers in the United

States as a whole and the easy access to guns for all American citizens. McConaughey

used his own experience as a responsible gun owner. But not many people share

McConaughey's sense of responsibility for gun ownership. Through his experience,

McConaughey wants people to see gun ownership as a responsibility rather than

abuse it. He used his personal experience to make the Whole American people

understand more that guns are easy to buy and that the US government needs to

increase the requirements on buyers to stop gun violence.

Secondly, it will analyze how McConaughey appeals to the audience's emotions

through his performance. McConaughey used the stories of the victims and their

parent’s sadness and anger to bring the American people into this grief for the victims

and anger over gun violence as an emotional example. These stories mainly tell about

each child's unfulfilled dreams and what their parents miss about them. The use of

these stories can be a good way to attract public sympathy, which can make the

speech more powerful and make people disgusted with gun violence. Telling the

victim's story makes the speech more emotional. In Maite's story, it is told that after

the Uvalde shooting, people can only recognize Maite by his green Converse shoes.

This reflects the victimization of gun violence and the threat of ar-15s and other large

guns. In this way, McConaughey can call on the government to introduce policies on

the control of guns of mass destruction and call on people to stop gun violence.
McConaughey also uses the narrative of Alithia's father as an example of emotion. He

landed a well-paid, stable job a week before the Uvalde shooting. The family was

developing towards stability and happiness. But the shooting incident ruined all that.

McConaughey's use of the story can elicit grief and sympathy from the media and the

government. It fits with the theme of calling for an end to gun violence. These stories

reflect the toll gun violence has taken on Americans. McConaughey does a good job

of using the stories to create a mood of sadness and anger.

Thirdly, it will show how McConaughey constructs sound arguments to support

her claims. McConaughey logically suggested the government should increase the

purchase requirements for AR-15. McConaughey makes this argument logically.

Because the Uvalde shooting was so bad because of the power of the AR-15. After

that, he pointed out the need to establish strict laws to make those who misuse guns

bear more serious consequences. The shift from stricter requirements for buyers of

guns like the AR-15 to stricter laws embodies the logic of McConaughey's speech. It

fits with the theme of banning gun violence. McConaughey uses good logic to make

government recommendations to prevent gun violence and mass shootings.

McConaughey showed good logic in his presentation.

This article has analyzed how the speech appeal to people and the US

government to stop gun violence through his experience as a gun owner born in

Uvalde, the stories of the victims and their parent’s sadness and anger, and the logic

for change in the law for gun purchases. McConaughey pulled off his speech by

making logical suggestions about the law through his experience with guns in Uvalde,
the stories of victims, and the emotions of parents. McConaughey used his own

experience of gun ownership in Uvalde to show that lax gun control in the United

States has led to gun violence. McConaughey then used the stories of the victims and

the grief and anger of the parents to make the speech more powerful. It can lead to

grief for the victims and anger over gun violence. McConaughey also does a good job

of analyzing the current situation in the United States and makes logical suggestions.

This makes the speech very relevant to the theme of stopping gun violence. All in all,

this is a speech that uses facts, emotion and logical analysis to show its determination

to stop gun violence.