21st Century Is J.F. Kennedy's Statement, "Ask Term Paper

21st century is J.F. Kennedy's statement, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country." Given in his poignant inaugural address in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 1961, this quote has inspired countless Americans in the years since his speech.

Certainly, the word that best illustrates this quote is the word "country." The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines the noun, country, as "1: an indefinite usually extended expanse of land: REGION 2 a: the land of a person's birth, residence, or citizenship b: a political state or nation or its territory 3 a: the people of a state or district: POPULACE b: JURY c: ELECTORATE 2-4: rural as distinguished from urban areas 5: COUNTRY MUSIC - coun try ish / -trE-ish / adjective."

Within these five definitions, the denotation of country in 2 and 3 are the most important. Certainly, Kennedy spoke not only to "the people of a state...," but he also spoke about the physical "land of a person's birth, residence, or citizenship." These dual meanings of the word country are important, as they establish that Kennedy was not only talking about the physical lands of the United States of America; he was also talking about the people that make up the United States.Certainly, aside from this denotation, the word country has connotative meanings.

Simply, connotation is the set of meanings or associations that are associated with the literal meaning of a specific word (The American Heritage Dictionary). In the case of the word country, one of the most powerful connotations is that of patriotism.

In the case of the United States, the association of patriotism with the word country is extremely strong. Further, given the context that the word country appears (JFK's inaugural address), the patriotic connotation is even stronger.

In literature, the term narrative refers to the process of "establishing that something is a part of a whole and usually that something is the cause of something else. It is usually combined with human actions or events that affect human beings. The meaning of each event is produced by the part it….....