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Kylie Leonard
04/27/2015
Comm 310
Analyze A Speech to Congress
Neil deGrasse Tyson once said We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but
perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us. Neil deGrasse
Tyson is a famous astrophysics. He is known for being director of Hayden Planetarium at the
New York City, American Museum of Natural History. He is also an author, tv show host, and
public lecturer. He also served on the Moon, Mars, and Beyond Commission. According to
HaydenPlanetarium.org, Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he
was educated in the public schools clear through his graduation from the Bronx High School of
Science. According to the American Physical Society Site, His stargazing habits were not
necessarily well received however, as his neighbors would often report him for suspicious
behavior. Luckily, he quickly learned to fascinate investigating police officers with a peek
through his telescope. During Dr. Tysons public school education, he struggled academic. the
American Physical Society Site said Despite his dreams and passion for the stars, Neil was not
an academically exceptional student. No teacher was saying hey, hes going to go far, or hey,
hes best in the class, Neil says. I think I was otherwise unremarkable. Many did not believe
astrophysics was a realistic goal either. Neil was nevertheless determined to pursue his
ambitions. After a suggestion of a middle school teacher, Tyson started seeing lectures at the
Hayden Planetarium. This gave Tyson a new light and showed him a way to make his dreams of
being an astrophysicist real. He even got into Harvard. He graduated Harvard in 1980 with a
degree in Physics. He continued his education at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, with
a masters in astronomy. Tyson described his time being hard for him. According to an NPR
interview, There are very, very few African-American astrophysics PhDs,... That's for a reason.

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I was doing something people of my skin color were not supposed to do. By being supported,
he graduated from there. He then continued his journey at Columbia. This is where he got both a
masters and doctorate in astrophysics by 1991. Since receiving these degrees, Dr. Tyson has
encouraged people to go into the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics), which helps better our nation. He has dedicated his life to help push innovation
within America and the world. One important speech Dr. Tyson has given is his speech to
Congress. This speech is about increasing NASAs budget to continue creating new innovations.
Dr. Tysons speech titled Past, Present, and Future of NASA was given on March 7,
2012. He gave this speech to the United States Senate. It wasnt the whole senate, it was with the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. According to HaydenPlanetarium.org,
the meeting was held in the Russell Senate Office Building, room 253. While the speech was
given to the Senators on the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, it was also
posted to YouTube and HaydenPlanetarium.org. This allowed people around the world to view
his speech. Dr. Tyson is there in front of the senators to defend the need of an increased budget
for NASA. It is imperative that they increase the budget because it will help both technological
and economic growth within the United States.
Dr. Tyson main goal of his speech is to get the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation to push the Senate to approve an increased budget for NASA. He starts off by
using the quote by Antoine St. Exupery, If you want to build a ship, dont drum up people to
collect wood and dont assign them work, rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of
the sea. He does that because the sea is a metaphor for space. He uses these to prepare the
Senates for the need to explore our next frontier. He then continues by reminding the Senators of
their childhood. They grew up during the time of space adventures to the moon. He talks about

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how the space adventure did more than just the walk on the moon, it also brought new
innovations to the people of the United States. Tyson talks about how the United States was once
a country leading technological and science innovations, which led to economic growth.
Unfortunately, after the 1970s, our space program died. We stopped going to the Moon and
exploring the space frontier. This coasting as allowed other nations to catch up with the United
States and some have even passed us. By increasing NASAs budget from half a penny per tax
dollar, to a full penny, the United States can reboot its economy.
To start off with looking at the style of Dr. Tyson, it is important to look at the general
style and then lead to the literary devices he uses in each paragraph. To start off, Dr. Tyson uses a
very formal style. He uses complex sentences, which makes sense for the environment he is in.
Speaking to the Senate requires very formal language. He uses an equal amount of precision and
ambiguity. He uses precision in a way that it is easy to understand his point, that NASA needs an
increase in its budget. He uses ambiguous language in order to better example the need for the
increased budget. He uses it to put things into perspective. Dr. Tyson uses more figurative
language in order to have his audience understand the need for a bigger budget. It allows for it to
stay in the Senators minds. Finally, Dr. Tyson uses redundancy to get his point across. When we
invested in space, life was better. Now that we are not investing in space, times are hard. We
need to invest in space.
Dr. Tyson uses literary devices in order to persuade his audience. In the first paragraph of
the speech, he uses the quote by Antoine St. Exupery, If you want to build a ship, dont drum up
people to collect wood and dont assign them work, rather teach them to long for the endless
immensity of the sea. This quote has many devices used in it. The first is that the sea is a
metaphor for space. Antoine St. Exupery was born in the 1900s, this means that the main way of

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travel was through the sea. It was how people explored. We didnt know Earths secrets, by
exploring out on sea, we learned more about our world. Now, in 2015, we have cars, airplanes,
hot air balloons, trains, boats, and rocket ships. We have explored the Earth, we know most of its
secrets. What we dont know is Space. Space is infinity big and we have barely begun to explore
it. Another device this quote uses is parallelism. By saying dont, multiple times, it emphasizes
the difference between doing manual labor and having a dream. The last device this quote uses is
antithesis. St. Exupery says by telling you that you want to build a ship, but continues by saying
not to collect wood or assign the worker work. This is a contrasting idea. To build a ship, you
need worker to do work and to get wood. In a different part, Dr. Tyson uses personification. He
says Currently, NASAs Mars science exploration budget is being decimated. A budget is not a
person, but using the word decimated, Tyson is giving it a human quality.
In the second paragraph, Tyson uses one sentence that has three different slogans. He says
During the late 1950s through the early 1970s, every few weeks an article, cover story, or
headline would extol the city of tomorrow, the home of tomorrow, the transportation of
tomorrow. Americans cling to the idea of a better future and that is what these stories fostered.
The stories gave Americans hope. He then continues with both a personification and a
comparison in the next sentence. Despite such optimism, that period was one of the gloomiest
in U.S. history, with a level of unrest not seen since the Civil War. It is personification because
time cant be gloomy. He is also comparing the 50-70s to the Civil War. During the 50s-70s, the
United States faced the Civil Right Movement, Vietnam War, Korean War, the Cold War, the
Three Mile Island crisis, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. This time period was full of disagreeing
opinions and war. Tyson continues this paragraph by saying The Cold War threatened total
annihilation, a hot war killed a hundred servicemen each week, the civil rights movement played

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out in daily confrontations, and multiple assassinations and urban riots poisoned the landscape.
Tyson is using identification to help explain his previous statement.
In the fourth paragraph, Tyson, uses four different literary devices. The first one is with
the statement exploration of the unknown might now strike everyone as a priority. The
statement exploration of the unknown is an ambiguous statement. It has to be ambiguous
because we honestly do not know what all space entails. It also always the audience to use their
own imaginary to envision what we could find with space exploration. He continues with the
statement Yet audacious visions have the power to alter mind-states. In this statement, he is
using personification. Visions do not have power, people have power. Visions in this sense are
being given the human quality of changing peoples minds. He uses personification in the next
sentence too. Tyson said When a nation permits itself to dream big, those dreams pervade its
citizens ambitions. A nation cannot dream, that is a human quality. In the next sentence, he uses
the alliteration energize the electorate. Alliteration is when you have similar sound. It has the
e sound so close together. The last literary device Tyson uses in this paragraph is an allusion.
He used the phrase it was self-evident. This is referencing the Declaration of Independences
preamble. According to Archives.gov, the preamble says We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. By looking at the
sentence before, this allusion makes sense. It is talking about how the government did not
convince people that STEM programs were need. People did these programs because they
wanted to do so, not because they were forced.
Combining the fifth, sixth, and seventh paragraphs, there are three main literary devices.
The first is in paragraph five, which is personification. Tyson said For a while there, the United

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States led the world in nearly every metric of economic strength that mattered. The United
States cannot led anyone because it is not a human entity. It is a country that is led by people.
The sixth paragraph, Tyson uses identification to re-engage with his audience. He said during
this age of space exploration, any jobs that went overseas were the kind that nobody wanted
anyways. Those that stayed in this country were the consequence of persistent streams if
innovation that could not be outsourced.... Tyson is reminding the Senators of the pride
Americans have in being the best nation. In the seventh paragraph, Tyson used the simile, which
also is personification, money flows like rivers to protect us. Money cannot protect anyone.
Money is being compared to a river. When a river flows, there is a lot of water. When money
flows, there is a lot of dollars being spent.
In the eighth paragraph of his speech, Tyson used three different literary devices. The first
is a simile and personification. He said But there exists another driver of great ambitions,
almost as potent as war. Thats the promise of wealth. Tyson is comparing ambitions to war. It is
personification because neither ambitions, nor wealth can be as potent as war. War is a human
thing to do, which disqualifies both ambitions and wealth. Tyson also used amplification with the
following sentence. What matters here are not spin-offs (although I could list a few: Accurate
affordable Lasik surgery, Scratch resistant lenses, Cordless power tools, Tempurfoam, Cochlear
implants, the drive to miniaturize of electronics...).... Tyson embellishes his statement by
included a list of the products that were discovered because of NASAs space missions. By
adding the list, it is increasing the importance to the audience of why NASA should get more
funding.
In paragraph nine, Tyson uses two main devices. The first is parallelism, which is seen in
the following sentence. They knew that seemingly impossible things were possible- the older

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among them had enabled, and the younger among them had witnessed the Apollo voyages to the
Moon- the greatest adventure there ever was. By saying the the older among them.... and the
younger among them..., it creates a feeling of togetherness. The older generation did this while
the younger watched. Now it is time for the younger generation to do this, while the older watch.
The second device is also a parallelism. It is If all you do is coast, eventually you slow down,
while others catch up and pass you by. The emphasis of the word you really drives home Dr.
Tysons point of it is societys fault that our space program died. NASA was put to the side
because the Cold War ended. There was no push to sustain or increase our space program. By
having the did that, done that attitude, the United States has slowly allowed other nations to
pass us in space.
Paragraph ten has three different devices used. The first is personification in the
statement the nation is going broke. A nation cannot be broke because only humans can control
money. People control the money that the nation has in its banking system. A nation cannot
own money, only a human can do that. The next device Tyson uses is amplification. In the
sentence Space is a multidimensional enterprise that taps the frontiers of many disciplines:
biology, chemistry, physics, astrophysics, geology, atmospherics, electrical engineering,
mechanical engineering. By listing out the different fields that travel to space would require, it
shows the amount of job potential needed. According to Jaison R. Abel, Richard Deitz, and Yaqin
Su, who wrote a journal article for the Federal Reserve Band of New York,
Our analysis reveals that, by historical standards, unemployment rates for recent college
graduates have indeed been quite high since the onset of the Great Recession. Moreover,
underemployment among recent graduatesa condition defined here as working in jobs

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that typically do not require a bachelors degreeis also on the rise, part of a trend that
began with the 2001 recession
This shows the importance of getting more jobs since college graduates cannot get job postgraduation. It is part of the Senators job to represent the people and help their needs. When you
need jobs, you look into every option possible. The next device Tyson used was amplification
again. He said These classic subjects are the foundation of the STEM fields - science,
technology, engineering, and math- and they are all represented in the NASA portfolio. By
spelling out what STEM stands for, he is emphasizing the need to have people in those fields.
NASA needs people in those fields and we need NASA. Dr. Tyson is reinforcing the idea that
STEM can save us.
Paragraph eleven has five different literary devices in only three sentences. The first
device he uses is personification. Tyson said, Epic Space Adventures plant seeds of economic
growth. Space adventures cannot plant anything. To plant anything is a human quality. This
statement is also a metaphor because it is comparing space adventures to economic growth. It
allows the audience to clearly see that space adventures will lead to economic development.
Tyson also used the phrase, just as day follows night, which is simile. This is allowing the
audience to understand that it will happen and nothing can interfere with that process. The next
device he uses is parallelism. In the statement, When you innovate, you lead the world, you
keep your jobs, and concerns over tariffs and trade imbalances evaporate. The word you is
used many times because it is emphasizing that everyday citizens can make a difference. When
the senators choose to innovate, the United States leads the world. People will keep them elected
in their position. They will have money, so there will not be financial struggles to worry about.
The last two device are in the last sentence. They are personification and visualization. The

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sentence is The call for this adventure would echo loudly across society and down the
educational pipeline. Adventure cannot echo across society. Only humans can echo. It also
provides a nice visualization with educational pipeline. The audience imagines all levels of
education becoming an active participant of the space enterprise. This would cause a space
knowledge trickledown effect within education.
In the last paragraph, Tyson uses a lot of literary devices to convey the importance of
increasing NASAs budget. The first device that he uses is parallelism within a comparison. Dr.
Tyson said The spending portfolio of the United States currently allocates fifty times as much
money to social programs and education than it does to NASA. By saying spending portfolio
and social programs, it evokes a feeling of shock. Spending portfolio represents the entire
United States budget and social programs is everything else that the government sponsors
fully. It then leaves the audience to wonder why NASA is not being treated the same way. It
shows the injustice that is being done to NASA. Tyson continues with some more compares to
drive home the point that NASA has faced an injustice from the government and that our
problems have stemmed to this face. Tyson said The 2008 bank bailout of $750 billion was
greater than all the money NASA had received in its half history; two years US military
spending exceeds it as well. He says these two comparisons to emphasis the fact that NASA
isnt getting enough of the pie. He continues with the simile, Right now, NASAs annual budget
is half a penny on your tax dollar. Tyson is comparing how small of a budget NASA gets from
the United States Government. It is easy for the audience to understand half a penny than the
actually budget. According to NASA.gov, The Presidents FY 2016 Budget provides $18.5
billion in discretionary funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
to extend humanitys reach in space and strengthen Americas leadership here on Earth. By

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saying $18.5 billion, it makes the audience think that you are getting a lot of money. By putting
the amount in perspective to the dollar, it allows the audience to better understand the how small
the budget really is that they are being given. He then continues by saying For twice that- a
penny on a dollar- we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of
economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of
tomorrow. In this statement, he is using enactment to drive home his point. It is important to
increase the budget. He finishes his speech by saying how much would you pay to launch our
economy? How much would you pay for the universe?. Tyson is using parallelism to invoke his
audience to take action. This is also the climax of the speech. Here Dr. Tyson is laying it all out
on the line. He is saying if the Senators really want to help better the United States, they would
fund NASA. That is the only way well launch our economy back up.
Dr. Tyson gives a passionate speech about the importance of increasing NASAs budget.
Space will help refund our economy and better our nation. Science will save the United States.

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References
Abel, J., Deitz, R., & Su, Y. (2014). Are Recent College Graduates Finding Good Jobs?
Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Current Issues in Economics and Finance. Volume
20(Number 1), 1-8. Retrieved April 24, 2015, from
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci20-1.pdf
Campbell, K.K., Shultz-Huxman, S.S., Burkholder, T.R. (2015) . The rhetorical act (5 ed.)
th

Stamford, CT; Cengage Learning.

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's remarks at Senate Commerce hearing on the future of our space
program. (2012, March 7). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhc25v0DpJc
Home. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from
http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2015, February 1). Retrieved April 25, 2015,
from http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/FY16_White_House_NASA.pdf
Neil deGrasse Tyson. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 25, 2015, from
http://www.aps.org/careers/physicists/profiles/tyson.cfm
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription. (1776, July 4). Retrieved April 24, 2015,
from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
The Most Powerful Nerd In The Universe Is A Scientific Anomaly. (2014, March 23). Retrieved
April 25, 2015, from http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/23/291440486/themost-powerful-nerd-in-the-universe-and-a-unicorn

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Past, Present, and Future of Cats
In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.
-Terry Pratchett
Currently, Cats have lost their importances within society, Cats are not being worship
like we once did, and plans to increase their level of praise have been postponed until 2030s- on
energy not yet found, which is overseen by careless owners and a society that has yet to change
its ways.
During 3100 BC throughout the early 390 AD, everyone worshiped the Goddess Bastet,
which in return caused the worship of Cats to become extreme with people even going to the
expense to mummify dead cats. Despite all the worships, the period suddenly outlawed the Cult
of Bast and the level of respect has declined ever since. The time of worship was long and
allowed for Cats to grow accustomed to a certain comfort and since this decline, the feline has
not forgot and takes revenge whenever possible.
Worshipping Cats might not be the top priority for everyone. Yet, friendly scratches have
the power to tame even the most ferocious feline - to change the temperament which was thought
to be impossible. When a nation dedicates itself to petting, Cats allow the torture to less some.
We will perfect our purring. During the Isis era, Cats didnt need owners to give pets, people
volunteered to give the perfect 495 pets per day. It was self-evident. And those not formally
trained in the art of petting and scratches embraced feeding and changing of the cat pan.
Pleasing us will take time and effort, but at what cost? The current level of pets and
scratches will need to be amplified. We required that we get a planet dedicated to our lifestyle of
lounging, sleeping, eating, and chasing that red light around. For a penny on a dollar- we can
transform our lifestyle.

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How much would you pay to end your torture?
How much would you pay for Cats happiness?