Gestures as Rhetoric

“Acts by the body can count more than words. Silent signals can register even louder than speech” (Humes 103).

Senator John McCain returned in April 2000 to the “Vietnam Hilton,” where he was once held prisoner. It is now a museum that parades pictures of happy and smiling prisoners. McCain pointed out one photograph of a grinning prisoner scratching his chin with only the middle finger of his hand. The prisoner’s face may have been smiling at his Vietcong captors, but his gesture conveyed to Americans an altogether different attitude. (Humes 102)

Humes, James C. Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln. Three Rivers Press.

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