Often in the Church we don’t give heed to all of the counsel from prophets. If we did they wouldn't be telling us to read our scriptures everyday, hold family home evening, and attend the temple often because we'd all be doing it. Sometimes we find ourselves thinking the talk isn’t for us or that it’s a good idea but our circumstances exempt us from that counsel. We need a reason to listen to the prophet's voice because being a prophet sometimes isn't enough. The prophet, just like any other speaker must give us a reason that we should heed his message. Speaking as the prophet, President Benson tells us that something is different about this talk, "Beware of Pride". We need to listen. We have to listen. He draws us in and motivates change in us to be more humble. How did he do it?
President Benson first alludes to other prophets found in the Book of Mormon to remind us who he really is, “This message has been weighing heavily on my soul for some time. I know the Lord wants this message delivered now.” A few other prophets have used similar language, for example Jacob says in Jacob 2:3, “I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls than I have hitherto been.” This allusion places him in the same position as Jacob and other ancient prophets. We as members of the church tend to place more trust and obedience to old ancient prophets, many times because we read the stories of what happens when the people didn't listen to that bit of counsel. By placing himself with them, he is telling us that he has seen, just as Jacob, Nephi, and Mormon saw what the people needed. We begin listening because we actually believe this message is not an old man's counsel, but comes from the Lord.
President Benson talks to us as if he were not exempt from pride. That he is one of us. This makes us want to listen to him. If he comes in accusing us of being prideful we’ll prove him right by being offended. Instead he allows us to convict ourselves by defining pride by using phrases such as "The proud are not easily taught,” and, “The proud stand more in fear of men’s judgment than of God’s judgment.” Then when discussing the effects of pride he uses “we” and “us” to make it ever more personal. This diction moves all focus off of him as the speaker and towards us and our pride. His credibility is greatly increased because we see him as one of us who has worked hard to overcome his own pride.
Two anaphora are used to motivate us to action. In the first one, President Benson implores us to think again and again how much better our lives would be if we were to eliminate pride. By not defining the specific blessings he allows us to think about what we want. How it would affect us personally. Then playing off of those emotions he uses another anaphora by telling us we can choose to eliminate pride from our life. By continuing to speak as “we” and “us” we feel like we are going to try with everyone else to improve ourselves.
President Benson uses language tools such as anaphora, allusion, and diction in order get our attention and realize that he is the prophet, and that this particular message is from him as a prophet, and not your everyday grandpa.
I thought it was good how in your analysis you emphasize that President Benson is trying to make his talk effective for those who might say this "talk isn’t for us or that it’s a good idea but our circumstances exempt us from that counsel," because his talk needs to work for those who are prideful so he doesn't accuse anyone explicitly.
ReplyDeleteI was also impressed by the word 'anaphora,' because I had to look it up to find that it described repetition for poetic effect. Anyway, I'm writing an essay on this article as well.