What is the intended meaning behind kaufman’s use of understatement in relation to american drama?

British plays from the early twentieth century were full of stiff characters who interacted with one another in a formal manner, no matter the situation. This extremely formal behavior extended across all genres of British theater. American playwrights such as Kaufman parodied this stiff, unnatural behavior in their plays. In The Still Alarm, Kaufman creates extremely formal characters who speak calmly and politely despite the panic-inducing situation of being in a hotel that is burning down. The unnatural, strange behavior of these characters is meant to mock the absurdity of the extremely formal British theater.

1. read the following excerpt from franklin d. roosevelt's "fireside chat 19":

on the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the germans in, let us say serbia or norway, us; that a successful russian offensive against the germans us; and that british successes on land or sea in any part of the world strengthen our hands.

remember always that germany and italy, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the united states at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with britain or russia. and germany puts all the other republics of the americas into the same category of enemies. the people of our sister republics of this hemisphere can be honored by that fact.  

the true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. when we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. we americans are not destroyers — we are builders.

analyze the effectiveness of this excerpt. how does it function within the speech as a whole? how does the structure of the excerpt to convey the speech's purpose and key points? support your argument with evidence from the speech. (10 points)