The given text is a speech which was orated by Jawaharlal Nehru “at the stroke of the midnight hour” when India attained her freedom in 1947. He effectively uses rhetorical devices such as metaphors, anaphora, hypophora, and distinctio to create one of the most appreciated speeches in the world and arguably the most iconic speech ever to be orated in front of the largest democracy in the world. The speech addressed many things that were to be done in order to raise India from the “ill fortunes” of the colonial period to a successful nation in “neutrality” and peace with other nations. Nehru also praised the “soldiers of freedom”, such as Mahatma Gandhi who “without praise or reward, have served India even unto death” and recognised that India was in the midst of an “unending quest” for glory and its well deserved success.
The purpose of this speech was to inform, persuade and convince the audience that there was a lot of work that had to be done and that they should rise to “opening of opportunity” and “accept the challenge of the future.” The audience of this speech is clearly stated within it as Jawaharlal Nehru says that the responsibility that comes with freedom and power “rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India.” That being said, the audience of this speech was possibly, the new formed government body comprising of well educated men who understood English, which was the language in which this speech was delivered. An evidence of this is the time period when this speech was given. India attained freedom in 1947, and back then very little people knew the English language and so logically the audience should have been well-educated people who understood English.
Although full of mixed emotions, the “Tryst with Destiny” was still a well articulated political speech which effectively gathered ideas and presented them in a very patriotic and logical manner. In his speech, Nehru understands the limitations of the current generation at that time and gives the assembly inspiration and faith in order to fulfil the dream of building “the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell”. Nehru goes on to say that although the sorrows of the past may stick to Indians for some time, they should still rejoice in their freedom but also remember and praise the freedom fighters and “the architect of this freedom, the father of the our nation”, Mahatma Gandhi who lead India carrying “the torch of freedom” which “lighted up the darkness" that surrounded them. Nehru insists on redeeming the pledge in full, which was to “make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be”. Towards the end of the speech, Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the voice of the assembly and concludes by saying that the sovereign body will bind themselves afresh to India’s service.
The tone of this speech is very objective. Despite this it includes happy and sad tones here and there when expressing the different thoughts of the past and present which gives great dynamics to this speech. He uses a happy tone in certain sentences within the speech by saying words like “celebrate”, “adventure”, “freedom” and uses a sad tone when talking about the past using words like “sorrow”, “pain, and “failures”. This sets a very patriotic and festive mood among the audience, which is the assembly and allows people to reflect on their past and present, hence appreciating the freedom fighters and giving into India’s service.
In his speech, Jawaharlal Nehru has effectively used rhetorical devices and this helped in engaging the assembly. There are a lot of metaphors like “torch of freedom, “soul of a nation”, soldiers of freedom”, “star of freedom” and more which is a way of imagery in which someone imagines a real thing and relates it to an abstract noun. Jawaharlal Nehru then uses an anaphora to emphasize his point that there is “no time for for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill will or blaming others”. He opens up the next part of the speech with a metabasis by saying “Our next thoughts…”. He uses this to transition well in his speech and brings the focus of the audience to a more patriotic and thankful mindset. Nehru then uses a hypophora within the speech, “what shall be our endeavour?” and then answers it himself by informing the assembly a set of goals that were to be accomplished. He uses an anaphora within this sentence and says “to” four times at the starting of each of the goals that he spoke about. Because India is the largest democracy int he world and because it has so many religions, Nehru is careful on the words he uses but instead he uses a distinctio when saying “All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of india with equal rights, privileges and obligations.” This creates a very nice atmosphere as he acknowledges all of India and not just a certain religion or caste at a time when Hinduism was extremely prominent. Towards the end of his speech he uses an antithesis by saying “the ancient, the eternal and the ever new”. This makes the audience imagine India as a new revived nation free in every regard in its ever lasting beauty of the ancient times.
As said above the “Tryst with Destiny” was one of the most iconic speeches made in India’s history and it is for good reasons. The speech is very objective, it is to the point and it has a good flow throughout. It also embraces the whole community within it which was vital to the speech’s success in a country with so many people and religions. In essence, Jawaharlal Nehru talks about advancing forward and raising India to be a world superpower and in order to do that he asks for the cooperation of the common people, especially the audience the government assembly.
