Nelson Mandela’s Inaugural Address uses many rhetorical devices in order to connect to his listeners. Mandela’s speech is eloquently written, using devices like repetition, analogies, and pathos. These help to make his speech very effective in communication.
Nelson Mandela uses repetition to continually reinforce one idea on his listeners. Mandela speaks repeatedly about a unified South Africa by referring to “all of us” or “each one of us”. In the first line of his speech he says “Today, all of us … confer to glory and hope to newborn liberty.” He refers to this again when he says ” … we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without and fear in their hearts… a rainbow nation at peace with itself.” This meaning that they are all doing this together so that everyone can be at peace within their nation