Quit India Speech
by Mahatma Gandhi
Forrest Dunn
Speaker
• The speaker was Mahatma Gandhi.
• Gandhi lead the Swaraj movement in India.
• He was an established pacifist, using non-violence as a way to
persuade change in nations.
• He fought apartheid in South Africa before moving back to
India.
Occasion
• The speech was given on the eve of the Quit
India Movement on August 8th, 1942.
• The Quit India Movement was a large scale
civil disobedience campaign trying to get
England to free India.
Audience
• The audience was an assortment of
empathizers and followers.
• His speech was also written towards the
Indian Congress and the Indian people who
were giving up on the ahimsa method.
Purpose
• The purpose of the speech was to give his
followers hope and reason for the struggle of
their new movement.
• “In the democracy which I have envisaged, a
democracy established by non-violence, there
will be equal freedom for all.”
Subject
• The subject was about the new movement that was
about to start, with Gandhi explaining what was
happening and why it was happening.
• Gandhi used his past as a non-violent protester to
influence the people to act calmly and that what
they’re doing does work.
Tone
• The way Gandhi speaks adds a hopeful tone
for the new freedom they are trying to
achieve.
• Gandhi is also peaceful, by saying “We must,
therefore, purge ourselves of hatred.”
Ethos
• Ethos- While Gandhi is well known as the
leader of the non-aggression movement, he
still establishes ethos by saying “…hasten to
assure that I am the same Gandhi as I was in
1920. I have not changed in any fundamental
respect. I attach the same importance to nonviolence that I did then. “
Pathos
• Throughout the speech, Gandhi refers to their
God and how religion is important in this
situation. By appealing to their empathy and
respect of their religion, he develops pathos.
• “I have faith, therefore, that if, in spite of our
shortcomings, the big thing does happen, it
will be because God wanted to help us by
crowning with success our silent, unremitting
Sadhana for the last twenty-two years.”
Logos
• The appeal to logic is used in tempting the people not
to hate the British. Many people were talking about
welcoming the Japanese to defeat the English, so he
responds “This hatred would even make them
welcome the Japanese. It is most dangerous. It means
that they will exchange one slavery for another. We
must get rid of this feeling. Our quarrel is not with the
British people, we fight their imperialism.”
• Gandhi is saying that the British people aren’t what we
are fighting, it’s their ideals and control that we want
to get rid of.
Conclusion
• Gandhi was trying to inspire the people in the
new movement to be peaceful and patient.
While, ultimately, the movement didn’t work, the
people remained peaceful and India gained its
freedom in 1947.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vURO5LiUPI
Thank you for your time