Analysis Of Tessa Otto's Farewell Speech

Throughout history, individuals have fought for more justifiable working conditions. Florence Kelley, a social worker and reformer, fought to gain more adequate working conditions for the children of the United States. At this time nearly twenty percent of American workers were under the age of sixteen. Kelley delivered a speech in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905, during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, that strived for more fair-minded hours, rather than the long, unhealthy, and tedious shifts thats children were put through overnight. Kelley utilizes both appeals to logic and appeals to emotion, in order to rally up her audience in joining her to fight for more rational, more healthy, and more just hours.

The rhetorical essay has been a tradition in public speaking since Ancient Greece. Meant to persuade an audience to believe an idea or to embrace a way of thinking, public speakers have utilized this technique for centuries to inspire change in those who listen to it. Carrie Chapman Catt's commencement speech to the 1936 graduating class at Sweet Briar College is a speech that exemplifies the key devices and methods of persuasion in rhetoric, as well as inspiring her audience, a girls-only institution of higher learning, to work hard not only to improve their own lives, but to create a world greater than their own for generations to come. Carrie Chapman Catt delivered a highly effective commencement speech using the rhetorical devices logos,

Most graduates have a lot of stress and worry about their futures, the uncertainty of where they are going or what they will become. Ellen is relatable when she tells the graduates how she didn’t know who shes was, considering that, she was still dating men. Another use of a rhetorical question “But why am I here today?” to introduce an anecdote about her growing up in New Orleans. This question takes the audience’s attention back to her, because, consequently, they know that Ellen will explain why she is there; giving them a reason to listen to her words. Once again, Ellen asks “What else can happen to you?” in order to commend the graduates of having success after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. She uses the hyperbole and rhetorical question, “So what I’m saying is, when you’re older, a lot of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?” this keeps everybody’s attention and loops the parents into relating the commencement speech to them as well. Rhetorical questions help Ellen by giving the crowd small moments to reflect and invites them into her speech, connecting to them and allowing them to smile during serious content.

Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, reflected on the benign qualities of President Ronald Reagan, with whom she worked closely with in office, in her eulogy to the American public. Her purpose was to emphasize Reagan’s hardworking, reassuring, and friendly personality through the use of different rhetorical strategies, in order to create a sense of pathos. Thatcher was able to pay her respects and covey her meaningful message by using anecdotes, parallelism, and contrast.

In the TEDx Talk “The Magic of Not Giving a F***”, Sarah Knight guides the audience through her journey to living a carefree life where she is happy because as the title says she doesn’t “give a f***”. She does this by doing what she would prefer to do with her time and money, if there is an option to do so. She tells the audience her experiences and later goes on to teach and guide the audience through the process of not “giving a f***” or say no to things they don’t want to do in a polite and honest manner so that they too can live a carefree life like her if they so desire it. In a brief analysis of the different modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos her speech was very interesting and had many strong points; however, there were points throughout the speech that really did detract from the overall quality of the speech and potentially the affected the experience of the listeners as well.

When attempting to present a certain perspective to an audience, the speaker must not merely string a list of monotonous and meaningless words together and call it a speech. Rhetoric, also known as persuasive elocution, has the power to captivate an audience and is essential to any effective oration. In his 2008 Republican Convention speech, actor Fred Thompson lends his support to John McCain’s presidential campaign in order to convince American voters to do the same. Appealing to his audience’s patriotism and sense of responsibility while also discrediting the possibility of a successful Democratic nominee, Thompson delivers a memorable presentation laced with passion, light-hearted humor, and, most especially, hope for a better future lead

For almost two centuries, the system of public education has honored the best and the brightest high school graduates with the honorable titles of valedictorian and salutatorian.Though these titles have been a valued part of graduation for what seem like the entire history of American public schooling, they are under heavy scrutiny as impassioned and angry parents, as well as their hardworking students, attack the idea of only recognizing one or two of the class’s most talented seniors. In “Best in Class”, reporter Margaret Talbot challenges the traditional system of choosing a single valedictorian by by exposing the emotional opposition to the system’s change or preservation; her use of emotional dialogue as well as far less emotional, far more objective writing style allows Talbot to emphasize specific ideas and opinions with syntax to avoid confrontation, while simultaneously establishing that it is time for the traditional system of valedictory to change.

Great speeches are those which timelessly captivate audiences through their integrity and rhetoric treatment. This is relevant to Margaret Atwood’s speech in 1994, Spotty Handed Villainesses (hereafter referred to as Villainesses), and Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech in 1995, Keynote Address at the Beijing World Conference on Women (hereafter referred to as Keynote). The ability of a speech to resonate with audiences is dependent on their effective constructive of rhetoric to support the orator’s main ideas.

Anna Quindlen delivers at speech at the Mount Holyoke college, here she expresses her opinion on life and the adversities that she went through during her college years. In her speech she uses a casual tone for instance her use of simples sentences like “Being perfect was hard work, and the hell of it was, the rules of it changed” (Quindlen, 296). Throughout her whole speech she was being very casual and you could see that it was meant for young adults as she gave advice like “ Instead I’d like you to give up Give the backpacks”(Quindlen, 299). Furthermore her speech is arranged so it is very much like an anecdote, and in this anecdote she uses devices like pathos and ethos to appeal to her audience in order to bond and give a meaning

Talbot takes this sort of middle ground and examines both sides of the argument. After presenting the negative effects of a valedictorian, Talbot provides positive characteristics in order to provide another perspective. She goes on to quote Cheryl Barker, who says that “there are some kids who what they’re good at is studying. That’s what they do. They deserve something special to strive for.

People are more inclined to listen to someones speech if they can relate to it. Micheal Mack, an English professor wrote a speech on, “Why read shakespear?” Mack generates an effective argument that convinces readers that it is worth the hard work to read Shakespeare through his use of appealing to the audience and rhetorical devices. One of the techniques that Mack uses to advance his argument is how he appeals to the audience. In lines 14-15 Mack say’s, “Music that you didn’t particularly like the first time you hear it.

This paper will discuss mine self-evaluation and do into detail about my first speech. My first speech takes place in front of my class and I have to tell a story of an experience that has happened to me. Telling a speech was a new experience for me and I embrace the challenge. A speech can have an impact on a person life and the audience can also relate a topic that is being presented. I will explore and go into the details of ethos, pathos and logos of my speech for my personal assessment.

From the speech delivered by Sacheen Littlefeather in 1973 on behalf of actor Marlon Brando, she spoke with elegance and familiarity on the subject. The audience was accepting of her speech, regardless of their disappointment of Brando’s declining of the award. I think it is most influential when a public speaker is able to connect with the audience through a personal level by delivering a message that sounds natural and poise. The audience always has general statistics that the speaker can relate to. Age, gender, religion, education, and so on, this is referred to as Demographic Analysis (Tubbs 395).

Famous actors, musicians, politicians, artists and authors are often called upon to deliver commencement addresses at prestigious places of higher learning. It doesn't take Nobel-Prize-winning social scientists or psychologists, or speech professors to predict what these elite guest speakers will say on such occasions such as these. The speaker will tell the graduating class to aim high, never give up, make the most of opportunities, and do as our forbearers did: pull yourselves up by the bootstraps. But when Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks showed up at Vassar College to present the commencement address, his presentation avoided those clichés and platitudes. Hanks was refreshing original and yet remarkably pragmatic. This paper critiques Hanks' themes, examines his rhetorical techniques, and editorially analyzes his purpose.

Nearly all writing exhibits rhetorical elements to convey the writer’s message in a meaningful way. These techniques assist the readers in connecting with the author to fully understand the message and can also be used by the writer to influence the audience to feel a certain way about a topic. As Doug Downs said, “Some people learn to be rhetorical experts who can take those underlying principles shaping human interaction and finesse them in specific activities,” (460,1).Using rhetorical elements to appeal to an audience’s emotions have always been a foolproof way for urging people to pay attention to what you have to say and is almost the most persuasive technique. However, many other rhetorical techniques can also be used to prompt an audience to really adhere to what the writer is trying to convey. Such devices are beautifully displayed in J.K. Rowling’s commencement speech, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination”, to Harvard University’s 2008 graduates and in George Saunders’ speech, “Congratulations, by the Way”, to the Syracuse University 2013 graduates. J.K. Rowling and George Saunders use many rhetorical elements in their speeches, such as identification, motivational aspects, and the use of story-telling to gracefully convey their personal experiences and wisdom to the audience of young adults. Both speeches were influential and powerful; However, I feel as though J.K. Rowling’s speech was more effective in terms of delivery, because of