Directive The data findings of the kinds of Speech Acts presented in Emma
This utterance was the solution offered by Emma about how the audience could fix the problem immediately. She mentioned
what they could do first as men. They should take up this mantle which means give the basic protection towards their daughters,
sisters and mothers to protect them from any stereotypes and prejudices. Women should be granted more freedom to choose,
to determine themselves, to get their basic rights, and to pursue their own dreams.
On the other hand, men should also be free to be whatever they want to be. They should be free to cry, to be vulnerable,
and to be emotional and so on. The society should never prohibit men to be true to themselves. If many men take the mantle, there
will be many people who can be the complete version of themselves and at the end be able to reach their ultimate
happiness. This solution was not only a suggestion but a command from
Emma to the audience to work together to solve the problem. We must heal the stereotypes that stick in each gender especially
in the women because women are the main actor who suffer the most from this. Emma delivered the statement boldly so that it
made the point powerful and strong to attack the audience logic and emotion.
2 Inviting
Inviting means asking someone to join something or to come in some events. The examples of inviting are elaborated below.
Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Applause.
SP105.35-05.41
Realizing the involvement of men in the discussion and movement is very much important, and seeing the precedent of
how Mrs Clinton’s speech was failed to achieve her goal, Emma tried to be more confident in telling the audience that they,
especially the men, are invited to join the movement and be the feminist to fight for the
women’s right. The moment when men help the feminism goal to achieve the gender equality, this is the
moment when the movement is having a complete weapon to fight for the women and men’s rights.
“Men” was put at the beginning of the utterance because she wanted to be straightforward to direct the message to men only.
Furthermore, t he reason why she did not use “gentlemen” or
other more formal words because what she said was about men and women, so she wanted to specifically address to the male
counterpart. However, after mentioning men, she spoke very formal
because she wanted to take the audience emotion by being
respectful and polite. The applause was given as a proof of respecting to Emma and answering to her question that men in
the hall agree with her statement to join the opportunity to heal the gender inequality.
3 Requesting
Requesting means someone ask for something to be done or given by other people. The requesting seen in Emma Watson’s
HeForShe are as follows.
I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself: “If not me, who? If not now, when?”
SP111.36-11.52
As it has been explained by Emma in her speech, we know that there are not many people who concern in gender equality.
Most of the people are either unaware or afraid to speak up in public about the gender issue. It is because society has a big
force to make us believe that women and men should not have equal rights because they were born differently. This condition
makes women suffer a lot. However, at the same time, men also suffer from the stereotype too.
Emma wanted to convince the audience to step forward and to be seen in combating the stereotypes. She wanted them to be
involved in the movement to not only help women and men to be free from any stereotypes but also to make the better future
for the next generation. This action should be conducted immediately, so that the problem can be overcome as soon as
possible. “I am inviting you” was very soft and appropriate to make
people feel that they have another choice which is to not join the movement. This soft approach made the audience feel not forced
and threatened to decide whether to be a feminist or not. However,
“If not me, who? If not now, when?” which was put at the end of the utterance strengthened one of the choices, that
Emma offered to them, that is to join the movement. Therefore, the audience feel a sudden change of feeling from perceiving
that being a feminist is an option into realizing that it is an obligation. This is a smart move shown by Emma in her speech.
Knowing that not many people are brave enough to help women and men free from stereotypes, so Emma employed this
strategy to encourage them to join the movement right now. This utterance sounded so simple but very meaningful. Emma
thought that it is very important for Emma to emphasize the time constraint which is right now and emphasize the actor who is us.
I am reaching out to you because we need your help. SP100.20-00.24
Emma chose the word “reaching” instead of “talking”
because she did not only want to talk to them but also to grab their heart to listen, affirm, and do something regarding the topic she
brought in the podium. The words “need your help” was effective to
gain p eople’s emotion because it showed how they are more
powerful than the speaker or the movement itself. Therefore, their presence is much more important compared to anything.
The utterance was in the complex sentence which consists of ordinate I am… and sub-ordinate because we... The ordinate was
formed in the present continuous tense because she wanted to focus on the process, while the sub-ordinate was in the simple present
tense because she wanted to show that the need is not only for now but it is needed until the problem is solved.
We want to end gender inequality and to do this, we need everyone involved.
SP100.24-00.33
It was constructed by the simple present tense because she believed that ending gender equality and letting everyone involved
in the campaign should not only be conducted today. She was very straightforward and effective which was proven with the words
“want to end” and briefly telling how to do this. It showed how she made everything clear since at the very first place and did not beat
around the bush. She chose the word “want to” instead of “would
like to” because she knew that her speech was not only listened by people in the hall but also outside the hall who could be not
politicians but just ordinary people. Thus, she wanted to make it close to them. She chose the word “gender inequality” instead of
“gender problem” or else because she was very determinative to the root
of the problem. Not to mention, the word “inequality” was perceived as something morally wrong. Therefore, it added the sense
of how worse the problem is. This phrase helped her to be more persuasive.