The timing of this discourse is important to how receptive the audience will be. With the war having ended just months before, the world was beginning to see the lines of influence being drawn by the Soviet Union and the democratic nations. With war being so vivid in the minds of the people, all sides were anxiously on alert for how diplomacies would take place.
Churchill understands what the audience wants to hear. The main topic of interest is the tension between communist and capitalistic states. In paragraph 21, he states this and proceeds to state the facts as he sees them. This is important because he does not tell the audience what to believe but tells them what he believes and allows them to make their own judgments accordingly. He does weigh in on what he believes by using an artful display of words as described by the following quote:
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”
Churchill understands the power of metaphors and likens the situation in Europe to that of a curtain. As is well known, curtains are used to block out a person’s view or to establish privacy. In this case, Churchill emphasizes that the Iron Curtain has blocked much of Europe from the influence of democracy. By using this unmistakable metaphor, Churchill establishes his view on the matter in a powerful way.
Churchill concludes with a powerful explanation of the consequences of what their actions will have on the future. He makes it clear that war is unlikely, however, the Soviets desire the fruits of war and the spread of their influence. His call to action is to assert that World War II was the most preventable war if timely action was taken. If timely action is taken now, future devastating wars can be prevented as well. He names the title of his discourse “Sinews of Peace” which illustrates just how delicate peace can be.
Image credit: Iron Fence, by eliver22. licensed by CC through Pixaby 2.0
I wonder in a world where there are so many political ideologies if there is ever truly "peace" or if the tensions that Churchill refers to are always and inevitable. I wonder if peace is accomplished by the delicate formation of words from a world leader to their country and if it can be as easily destroyed with different words.
ReplyDeleteWhen Churchill wrote, "Last time I saw it all coming and I cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention," I just thought he was being petty, but now think your analysis is right. He compares the lack of timely action before WWII to possibly untimely action in the future, and it turns out to be an effective method of warning.
ReplyDeleteThe metaphors Churchill uses are indeed powerful. I think it is a good test of the quality of a metaphor is whether or not others repeat it. Based on this scale, Churchill coined one of the greatest political metaphors of recent history. Without this metaphor the history of the world would be written quite differently.
ReplyDelete