What is Reagan's main purpose in this passage?
Read the passage from Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This
Wall" speech.
Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most
fundamental distinction of all between East and West. The
totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does
such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to
create, to enjoy, to worship. The totalitarian world finds even
symbols of love and of worship an affront
to threaten the Soviet Union
to urge an end to communism
to explain why he is visiting Berlin
to applaud small acts of resistance
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that
embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-
painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, "This
wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this
wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand
truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.