“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” This mantra from Margaret Mead is a somewhat humorous yet slightly satirical spin on how people tend to think of themselves as one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable human specimens. However, one English teacher from Wellesley High School takes this critique one step further with his polemic presentation at the school commencement. David McCullough, a Massachusetts English teacher, gave a seemingly somber sendoff to his graduates in 2012, with a speech that contained some unapologetically harsh sentiments. However, by looking past the outwardly dismal surface of the speech, the students can infer a more optimistic message. By incorporating devices of asyndeton, paradox, antimetabole, and anadiplosis, McCullough conveys to each student that even though none of them is unique, their commonality is not a fault they all have merit and should strive to view the world through a more selfless lens. Asyndeton is employed to reveal …show more content…
details to the audience that they may have neglected to previously consider. Primarily, he underscores minutiae that are applicable to all members of the audience, but that few heeded when they sat down to hear his commencement. For example, he highlights the fact that every student is dressed in the same homogeneous garments by stating, “Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you’ll notice, exactly the same” (McCullough 4). This fact, while obvious, isn’t in the foreground of people’s minds when they attend events such as commencements. Thus, by bringing it up, McCullough demonstrates that even though the students don’t know it, they are not unique. Also, the author precedes this commentary on their conformist attire with an enumeration of various characteristics which are applicable to a majority of the people in the audience by virtue of their sheer number. This is done to stress that regardless of their individual traits, the students are still indistinct from one another. While not explicitly stated, the listeners can extrapolate that if they were paying less attention to themselves and more to their peers, this truth would’ve been far more apparent. In addition, the speaker goes on to list all the ways that the graduates have been coddled from their youths, remarking that no member of the audience is an exception. He broadly recounts that, “Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped… And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs” (McCullough 8). The crux of this array of verbs is that regardless of their current successes, the entire student body has been flattered and coddled by parents and the like since youth. This similarity in all their upbringings is another factor that makes the students less distinct from one another. Having the audience realize that they must share credit for their triumphs with those who “babied” them to success is another method McCullough impresses upon the audience that they need look beyond themselves when reflecting upon themselves and in general. Paradox is integrated into the lecture to impeach the value of being “special” in a world that he argues voids the term. It is also harnessed by McCullough to present viewpoints that seem nonsensible initially, but are then explained using reason to the audience. For instance, the speaker puzzlingly proclaims, “If everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless” (McCullough 11). At first glance, these words defy logic. It makes one wonder how McCullough can claim that if all people are special, the opposite is true. In the same vein, McCullough’s affirmation that trophies, which are commonly held to icons of pride and victory, are worthless when they are received by everyone seeking one comes off as confusingly negative. However, when one reads into it more closely, coherence becomes evident. To be special, by definition, requires that no others be the same, which would be impossible if everyone were special. By extension, trophies, which are designed to separate one from their peers, would fail to do so if everyone received one. In making these points, McCullough highlights that being distinct (an already impossible feat, according to the orator) really doesn’t hold any perks and that it’s perfectly acceptable not stand out. To emphasize this claim, McCullough declares that “The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special” (15). The audience is likely scratching its collective head wondering how this is possible. After all, most are taught that they are in fact single beings with no other person exactly alike, a trait that they’ve been told to embrace and cherish. In direct contradiction to this, McCullough preaches that before this bliss can be obtained, one must come to terms with the fact that the above is false. Again, he expresses to the audience for the nth time how banal the pupils are in comparison to one another. These paradoxes are both applied to help the listeners envision a world bigger than themselves and one where their individuality, which he deems to be fictional, is not as hugely glorified. Like asyndeton, antimetabole is utilized by McCullough to change his listeners’ stances. Specifically, he tries to alter the students’ viewpoints from egocentric and focused on themselves, to more broad, and concentrated on the world around them. To this end, McCullough instructs his listeners to, “Climb [the mountain] so you can see the world, not so the world can see you” (15). The objective of this guidance is to alter the students’ outlook on the world; because not a single one of them is special, there is no point in putting themselves on a pedestal for the world to see, rather, they should see the world and all the wonders it has to offer. Simply put, this sentence does not devalue the listeners, though it does remind them how bland they are, it capitalizes on the value of the world around them. It also offers an alternate worldview, wherein the mountaintop is the centerpiece, rather than the listener. As a result of his application of antimetabole, the audience is delicately reminded of their overstated triteness while encouraged to observe the world from a third-person perspective rather than the first-person view that they’ve grown accustomed to. The final prominent literary technique McCullough crafts into the speech is anadiplosis, which is implemented into the oration to erase any solipsistic misgivings the learners may have. Anadiplosis accomplishes this by presenting a new perspective to his pupils and to reinforce the overarching message of the occasion: human individuality is a myth. McCullough elaborated that, “Your planet, I’ll remind you, is not the center of its solar system, you solar system is not the center of its galaxy, your galaxy is not the center of the universe” (10). He then takes it one step further by explaining from a logical standpoint how no human could be at the center. Also, the “zooming out”, that is built upon in the speech is intentional; the author is illustrating how minuscule we are in the grand scheme of things by gradually increasing the size of the view. This also fits in with many of his previous tactics, practiced in order to give the audience a new outlook so that they devote attention less to themselves. Together, these two effects allow the author to capitalize on his argument that no one is special enough to visibly affect the world and that it would be more beneficial for the students to look at the world apart from themselves. A simple and unmindful ear will only hear the nihilistic message echoed several times throughout the speech: “You are not special.” Rather than being entirely pessimistic and ego-flattening, the speech does hold some glimpses of a positive message by explaining that having no individuality isn’t without its perks.
However, his deeper meaning, in addition to pointing out the lack of uniqueness in his audience, never stating it to be a bad thing, is to guide the students into leading a less personal life and seeing the world as others would see them. To deliver this more upbeat message to the audience, McCullough implements a great number of rhetorical devices within his speech, but the three most notable are asyndeton, paradox, antimetabole, and anadiplosis. The greatest error an audience member can make listening to his oration is taking it at face value; despite reiterating loudly and proudly about how none of them are special, he intimates that they can all still stand
out.
During the time of the Civil War, the United States was divided on many issues; one of the issues being the issue of slavery. The North was fighting against the heinous act of imprisoning someone for life for self-gain and the South was fighting to preserve this heinous act. The North needed all the warriors of freedom as possible, which is why Alfred M. Green gave a speech in Philadelphia in April 1861 to get his fellow African Americans to join the union and fight be the warriors of freedom that the North needed them to be in this fight against slavery. But, there is a problem in recruiting people to leave their lives and go fight in a gruesome war -- people fear for their lives. To avoid this fear and get African Americans to fight in this war, Green utilizes two unionizing rhetorical strategies in order to dismantle this fear
Ann Richards’s keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1988 was extremely interesting to watch. I believe her speech was intended to be focused on the American family and also the American farmers. These two areas seemed to be very important to Mrs. Richards and she made a point to discuss both.
McCullough, intertwines logos and pathos to emphasize the importance of doing things for self–enrichment, instead of the established ideal of competition. These students are not the first ones, last ones, or only ones to graduate high school in Massachusetts. He lists, “no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That’s 37,000 valedictorians, 37,000 class presidents...2,185,967 pairs of Uggs”. He drives
Joseph McCarthy was a man of many talents, oration being one that surpassed the majority of the rest. McCarthy’s ability to use motifs, tone, and repetition in a way that supported his message impeccably was one of the reasons he excelled at persuasion.
Many would argue that President Obama is one of the most effective speakers in the decade. With his amazing speeches, he captivates his audience with his emotion and official tone.
Remarks by President Obama at the eulogy for the honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney; A man who was killed when an another man rushed into a church in South Carolina and killed 9 people while they were immersed in an afternoon mass. President Obama created different appeals and feelings through the use of different Rhetorical Devices such as Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. The use of logos ethos and pathos help the president convey his central idea which is to ensure the people of South Carolina and the people of the United States that not only are they safe, but they will unite to take this opportunity to create a more united U.S. This will happen through the establishment of new gun reforms.
In today’s society, one of the most natural human traits is selfishness. David Foster Wallace incorporated this idea in his commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. Wallace aims to persuade his audience that, “the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” Although the intended audience of his speech is the graduates and staff, along with their friends and family, the piece has become quite popular since its delivery. Wallace offers, “nothing less than the truth” and captivates the listeners with his complete honestly. His personal tone lets the audience feel like they are a part of the conversation, rather than just receiving it. Wallace successfully conveys his message that society is blind to the world around them through the use of logic, humility and emotional appeals.
During 1931, a second grand war begin with national powers uniting together. Many nations instantly took arms, but the US decided to stay neutral. As a result, European countries established a new flourishing fear of being overthrown by eastern communist foes(“World”). Then the dreadful event on December 6, 1941, caused the US to reconsider its own stance on the war. Allied Powers realized their opportunity to use Pearl Harbor to gain a chance to determine their own fate in war. On December 26, 1941, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, presented a speech eventually known as “Masters of Our Fate” to the US Senate and the House of Representatives(“Winston”). Through the use of esoteric rhetorical questions, vivid metaphors,
The purpose of this story was to illustrate the importance of how people view themselves and their abilities.
From the Golden Dome of the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, comedian Jim Carrey astounded the students of MUM’s Class of 2014 along with their parents and faculty with his commencement speech. In his speech, Carrey gave some serious advice about self-discovery, fear and happiness sprinkled liberally with humor to the graduating students while remaining true to himself. It employed several non-verbal communication techniques as well as the three modes of persuasion that we learned in class.
In the form of a eulogy, Goodman explores the life and legacy of Phil, a typical business man. As she discusses the life of Phil, Goodman is unable to find any positive qualities about him and through the example of Phil she delivers a powerful message about the role of work in the lives of Americans. The author uses rhetorical strategies to create a tone of pity and contempt for Phil, which shows how people who prioritize work over life are sad creatures who hurt the people around them.
President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Rhetorical Analysis. Barrack Obama’s inauguration speech successfully accomplished his goal by using rhetoric to ensure our nation that we will be in safe hands. The speech is similar to ideas obtained from the founding documents and Martin Luther King’s speech to establish ‘our’ goal to get together and take some action on the problems our country is now facing. As President Barack Obama starts his speech, he keeps himself from using ‘me’, ‘myself’, and ‘I’ and replacing it with ‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘together’ to achieve his ethos.
Throughout life we go through many stepping stones, Maya Angelou's autobiographical essay "Graduation", was about more than just moving on to another grade. The unexpected events that occurred during the ceremony enabled her to graduate from the views of a child to the more experienced and sometimes disenchanting views of an adult. Upon reading the story there is an initial feeling of excitement and hope which was quickly tarnished with the abrupt awareness of human prejudices. The author vividly illustrates a rainbow of significant mood changes she undergoes throughout the story.
The Civil War was a war fought over slavery, and African American rights, yet the slaves’ and freedmen that this bloody war was fought over could not fight for their country. Alfred Green wished for African Americans to gain the courage and bravery to show this country true patriotism. Green continued that although their past and present situations were low they could look to a future where true freedom is possible. Green made the connection that God is on the side of freedom, and that this endeavor is just and right in the sight of God. Green closed his speech by giving the point that the south was a tyrant to their southern brethren. Green shows the African Americans that this war was not just the whites’ fight but the entire country’s fight.
President Obama’s Address to the nation was presented on January 5, 2016. His speech was shown on all of the major network stations. The main goal of his speech was to get the point across to the nation about the increasing problem of gun use. His speech really focused on the issue of gun control and if it would benefit the country. Overall, the biggest idea of his Address was that gun control is a large issue in the United States. The way to prevent deaths caused by firearms can be prevented in other ways than taking peoples guns away. The examples brought up in this Address really stood out to me. The use of personal, national, and global examples really made his speech stronger on the topic of effectiveness.