The purpose of this project was to determine if oral interpretation in a social context setting can be used as a persuasive means of suicide prevention. A script on suicide was compiled, directed and performed as a solo performance by the writer. The thesis includes the script, a history of suicide prevention, the process of compiling a script for solo interpretation performance, and an overall evaluation of the production. This Author's evaluation was influenced by audience and critic responses.

This thesis investigates the extent to which Ambassador Kirkpatrick's and Ambassador Walters' United Nations discourses on human rights reflects the rhetorical themes of "prophetic dualism" and "technocratic realism." A metaphoric analysis of six speeches reveals that both Kirkpatrick's and Walters' arguments were framed through an ideological division between Democracy and Communism. The presence of "prophetic dualism" in Kirkpatrick's and Walters' discourses is explained as an extension of President Reagan's bipolar rhetoric on world affairs. The presence of "technocratic realism" in Walters' discourse is described as resulting from a unique set of political and rhetorical factors. The exacting nature of "prophetic dualism" may make it ill suited as a method of argument in the realm of diplomacy.