“A More Perfect Union” written by Barack Obama is a very important article urging the Americans to think over the problem of racism and to unite the whole nation. As far as this text serves as the appeal it is very important to pass the main idea to the readers and make them active in their deeds. That is why the writing style plays a crucial role in this case.
There is a wide range of methods used by Barack Obama in his work that facilitate the reader’s comprehension. The main means of connecting the parts and presenting the text as a logically-connected wholeness are the use of transitions, the use of pointing words, the repetition of keywords and phrases, and the repetition of the main ideas but in different ways. These ways of presentation make the text easy to understand.
Transitions help to cross from one idea to another and help the reader to follow these ideas. There are different categories of transitions that are divided according to the purposes they serve in the text. Let’s have a closer look at transitions used by Barack Obama in his work: addition – also, and, in fact; example – consider; elaboration – that is; comparison – like, just as; contrast – on one end…on the other end, but, despite; cause and effect – since, so, then; a concession – of course, etc. As we can see from the examples, the text is not stuffed with the transitions as far as the overuse of transitions spoils the image and the quality of the text. The reader should not even pay attention to such transitions reading the paragraphs one by one following the author’s thoughts.
The use of pointing words allows not repeating the same idea or even the same paragraphs or words several times. Pointing words save the author’s time and space. These words refer the reader to the words and ideas that have already been covered by the author. For example, Barack Obama uses the pronoun this in the expression this election, which helps the readers to understand what election the author means. Describing Ashley’s story, he says she did this for a year, the pronoun this refers the reader to the previous paragraph where the author has already presented the case that happened to Ashley in her childhood when she had to take care of her unemployed mother. There are a lot of such cases when Barack Obama uses pointing words such as this, that, these, those, such, he, she, it, her, their, etc to refer the reader to previously stated facts or ideas.
The repetition of keywords helps the author to achieve the main goal of the writing namely the transmission of the main idea to the reader. As far as Barack Obama touches upon the problem of racism in America it is quite natural that he repeats such key notions as racism repeated four times, discrimination used in the text three times, black denoting people is repeated nearly forty times, and white – for nearly twenty-five times.
The repetition of the main ideas helps the author to achieve the main aim of his writing. Barack Obama describing the present situation of white and black people in America uses different means of expressing the same ideas but in different words. For example, firstly he says: “But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now” (Obama, 653). Going on to develop this idea Barack Obama touches upon the importance of this issue using other words: “the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through” (Obama, 654). The means of connecting the parts make the text more perceptible and readable. They help the author to pass the main idea to the reader.