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William faulkner speech analysis
William faulkner acceptance speech analysis
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In his speech to the graduating class, William Faulkner addresses the importance of forming one’s self to change to world to a better place. His uplifting tone and compassion brings the audience closer to him. In the first sentence, the first instance of “you” is used. This is prominent throughout his entire speech. With this effect of connecting with the audience on a personal level, rather than being ‘above’ them, Faulkner makes it easier to persuade the audience and relate with them. He goes further with this as he says, “Our danger [the bomb falling on Oxford] is not that. Our danger is the forces in the world today.” When he says this, he sympathizes with the audience, he includes himself in the audiences predicament. His high usage of
The Grapes of Wrath explicates on the Dust Bowl era as the reader follows the story of the Joads in the narrative chapters, and the migrants in expository chapters. Steinbeck creates an urgent tone by using repetition many times throughout the book. He also tries to focus readers on how the Dust Bowl threatened migrant dreams using powerful imagery. As well as that, he creates symbols to teach the upper class how the Dust Bowl crushed the people’s goals. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck utilizes imagery, symbolism, and repetition to demonstrate how the Dust Bowl threatened the “American Dream.”
In the New York Times article “When a Crop Becomes a King”, author Michael Pollan argues there is an overproduction of corn that does more harm than it does good. He writes this in response to a farm bill signed by then President Bush to increase the budget for corn production which caused much controversy. Pollan uses an infuriated and frustrated tone in order to convince American consumers that corn has taken over their environment and economy. Michael Pollan uses rhetorical strategies to challenge conventional views of corn and to argue against additional corn production.
Upon listening and reading William Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, it is immediately deduced that he provides his vast audience of the epitome of himself. William Faulkner is not someone, but everyone. His humanistic approach to writing and thought has allowed him to hide complexity within simplicity, and for this, he is memorable: his work is a true testament to the unbreakable nature of the human spirit in the face of enormous hardship and consequence; a look into the human mind that is simultaneously interesting and uninteresting. This, along with so much more, is prevalent in this speech, which perfectly conveys the responsibilities of the writers in 1949.
Frederick Douglass wrote in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, about the devastation associated with slavery and the destruction from which comes desperation. Douglass intends to summon upon the guilt and empathy of his white audience by giving an account from which the reader is able to coax up a new perspective on the dreadful oppression. Seen especially in the third paragraph where Douglass provides a series of rhetorical devices including: apostrophe, anaphora, personification, exemplum, and epithet in his sorrowful bellowing to passing ships.
The first psychological change Faulkner uses to show readers how he thinks of the human mind is through the sense of identity. Faulkner uses several
Faulkner’s father and great grandfather could be described as the embodiment of Southern masculinity. The video “A Life on Paper” made it clear that the Faulkner men were “manly men.” The “Old Colonel” was remembered as a valiant war hero and a wonderful storyteller. William’s father continued perfectly in his footsteps. He had an intense work ethic and he served in the military. He provided for his family and he never turned down a good fight. Together they set the mold for the perfect Southern man, a role that William could never hope to fulfill.
With reference to the films you have studied for this topic, explore in detail two of the key elements that produce an emotional response in the spectator.
Former Admiral William H. McRaven served in the Navy for many years. He gave a commencement speech to the class of 2014 at the University of Texas at Austin. I chose this speaker because his speech is very motivational. The purpose of the speech is to teach people that anybody can change the world; he gives them 10 suggestions on how they can change the world. Although his speech is not perfect, he does a great job at communicating what was intended.
Throughout the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass uses plenty of rhetorical devices to dramatize the events of his life and reveal the truth of slavery to his readers. In one particular chapter, chapter 7, which contains an event that could be considered the turning point of Frederick Douglass’s life, Douglass fully uses his range of rhetorical ability. Although Sophia Auld’s descent into cruelty could be seen as a negative event in Douglass’s life, her actions indirectly led to the awareness of his situation through literacy, and eventually his freedom; both explained by Frederick Douglass through his analytical tone and extensive use of rhetorical devices.
Brooks, Cleanth. "William Faulkner: Visions of Good and Evil." Faulkner, New Perspectives. Ed. Richard H. Brodhead. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey : Prentice-Hall, 1983.
William Faulkner pioneered a largely philosophical literary style, which went on to influence for years. Unlike many writers of his time, Faulkner experimented with philosophical and psychological material as it applies to society. Although he created his own imaginary society, it was largely based off of actual people and ideas. Especially due to his uniqueness, Faulkner had his own ideas about writing, which he presented in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. In this speech he specifically stated that a writer’s duty is, “…to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.” (Nobel 829) Faulkner writes about his concern
William Faulkner was able to achieve what no man before him and few men after him were able to do. He not only wrote some of the most important and influential American literature in history; he spun stories that depicted to the world the inner workings of the Southern mentality. Faulkner pioneered many literary as well as psychological fronts in a way that is unmatched even today. William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 and twice the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, once in 1955 and then again in 1963(Minter). Faulkner’s works, although now uncommonly read by American youths, show not only the socioeconomic aspects of rural life in the South but also a way of life and a collection of mindsets still affecting Southern culture, views, practices, and even everyday life.
Faulkner's theme of alienation comes up many times in his writing. In the book The Major Years, Melvin Backman states that Faulkner was reaching for a more decent life and more decent people in the midst of evil. He was reaching for love, innocence, simplicity, and strength, but he also knew that these things were being hidden by reality. "With Faulkner, as with all men, the personal condition underlay and shaped his view of the human condition" (Backman, p.183).
William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. Faulkner was the son of Maud and Murry Faulkner. He was the eldest of four sons, and was named after his great grandfather, who was a bestselling writer of “The White Rose of Memphis.” When Faulkner was young, he showed an artistic talent for drawing and writing poetry. Estelle Oldham and Phil Stone were acquaintances of him while in his youth who would become important figures in Faulkner’s future. Stone found great interest in Faulkner’s poetry, which soon caused him to recognize William’s unmistakable talent. He set out to advise Faulkner and give him models for his study of literature. He said that “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” (William Faulkner). It was in this way that he conducted his literature, for the rest of his life was sloppy and indulgent. He worked as a postmaster and a scoutmaster for Boy Scouts, and in both he was asked to resign for drinking, and poor work. He dropped out of both high school and college in favor of partying, but during his stay in college, Faulkner was able to create many short stories and poems which were featured in the school newspaper and the yearbook. Faulkner may have been irresponsible and incompetent, but his writings proved to be extravagant works of art that redefined American literature for centuries to come.
Kartiganer, Donald M. and Ann J. Abadie, eds. Faulkner in Cultural Context. University Press of Mississippi: Jackson. 1997.