Preview

Quindlen Rhetorical Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
922 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Quindlen Rhetorical Analysis
Quindlen Rhetorical Analysis

Most people think that their goal in life is to be perfect. They strive for the best grades, to be the best one on the sports’ team, get the most scholarships, go to the best college, and to get the highest paying job. In reality, aiming for perfection only leads to downfall. When a person strives for perfection the only thing that can happen is disappointment. Since no one in life is truly perfect, goals will not be met, and disappointment will have to be faced. In her speech Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College, Anna Quindlen explores the topic of perfection and how striving for it can put a damper on life. By using rhetorical devices and appealing to pathos, Quindlen is able to effectively drive her point home. This commencement speech was meant to be a wakeup call to all people who aim for perfection their whole lives, and to inform them that it is no way to live a good life. Quindlen believes that when a person strives for perfection they begin to conform to society. She wants all people to challenge the boundaries that society has in place for them. By challenging those boundaries it is possible to achieve a different form of perfection that is unique to everyone. Finally, Quindlen emphasizes her point by expressing that people should live life so that it makes them happy. If people are too busy worrying about what other people will think of them, there’s no time left in the day for them to truly experience life. In order to live life to its fullest people need to learn to cast their fears, doubt, guilt, and shame out the window and just go with the flow. Striving for perfection can only lead to a treacherous trek. Everything in life has a purpose: from sports, to school, to writing. When it comes to this speech Quindlen knew that she was addressing a group of women graduating from college, because of this she was able to relate to them on a personal level. She wanted to share the message of how struggling
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Eighner Rhetorical Analysis
    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Eighner Rhetorical Analysis

    The effect of Eighner’s attention to language in the first five paragraphs shows the audience how knowledgeable he is. Most people have the common idea that homeless people have a high illiteracy or a lack of education, but Eighner is different from most homeless people. Eighner states that he, “wrote the Merriam-Webster research service to discover what [he] could about the word “Dumpster.” [He] learned from then that “Dumpster is a proprietary word belonging to the Dempster Dumpster company” (Eighner 107). His familiarity with this information establishes ethos. Throughout these five paragraphs it is revealing Eighner’s character as someone who is drawn well to his intellect and it stabilizes his credibility as a character.…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary Of Rhetorical Analysis
    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary Of Rhetorical Analysis

    This paper analyzed two articles from different fields of studies, then compared and contrasted them for rhetorical elements. One from the field of criminal justice and the other from the field of psychology. The criminal justice article, “DA Vance: Tyrone Howard Convicted of Murdering NYPD Detective Randolph Holder” was produced by The New York District Attorney’s office (2017). In this article the authors mentions a press release about a man murdering a NYPD detective and how the man lead up to that murder. The other article from psychology, “Personality and Social Psychology: Crossing Boundaries and Integrating Perspectives” was created by two psychologists, Snyder and Deaux (2007). These article mentions the differences and similarities…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analysis Of Want To Go To College? Learn To Fail By Angel B. Perez
    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of Want To Go To College? Learn To Fail By Angel B. Perez

    Angel B.Perez in the editorial, “want to go to college? Learn to fail”. Claims that many students whom he meets that thinks being perfect is the only way to get into to college are not likely to get into college. Perez supports their idea, that people who try to portray themselves as being perfect are not successful by, telling the reader how colleges wants people who overcame their faults. Colleges don’t want someone who tries to be perfect because no one is perfect and they're not likely to do good in college. The authors purpose is to inform you about what colleges are looking for in your applications. In order to convince people of what the college wants, the author talks in a serious tone for young people thinking about college.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    In this particular Skittles commercial, that I may add has been banned from being broadcasted in the United States depicts two “lovers” on their honey moon. It depicts them in a bedroom having sex. It is very confusing top the audience in the beginning, due to the fact that the audience can be anyone from children to adults; in all homes throughout the nation. It is now a comical and very popular video that is now flooding the World Wide Web. Many people have seen this video, yet it has very controversial content within it.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Counselors as Companions
    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Counselors as Companions

    As a result of the relationship that Steve had with his counselor, he has learned that sometimes the goals we set for ourselves may be unattainable. However, just because a goal needs to be modified a little, it doesn’t make it any less spectacular…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    Sand between my toes and enjoying some sun while gathered around with a group of friends is what I call, a definition of a great time. The ad Tampax Pearl from Seventeen magazines sells the product through the use of rhetorical fallacies logos, ethos, and pathos. There are six fallacies, and throughout the magazine they are represented by the text, the women in the white bikini, and the beach: false cause, hasty generalization, non sequitur, and appeal to ignorance, false authority, and bandwagon. In the background are the sounds of waves clashing against one another, the sun beginning to lower, and the scent of a bonfire. The game of limbo used as an entertainment to influence laughter, and competition spread to one another.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical analysis
    • 574 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rhetorical analysis

    This is because each parent defines success differently. The question of how to raise a child…

    • 574 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    The rhetorical device Antony took hold of throughout his persuasive argument is verbal irony. The use of verbal irony in his speech is so strong that it borders on sarcasm. "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears/I come to bury Ceasar, not to praise him." (3.2.81-82) says Antony when introducing himself to the crowd. The use of verbal irony is exemplified in this quote with the use of “Friend” He addresses the plebeians as "Friends" with the purpose of persuading them into believing that they were equal, and that he just wanted to say farewell Caesar, even though there is a clear distinction between Antony and the Plebeians. As his speech develops, Antony begins to plant the seed of doubt and anger in the Plebeians’ hearts towards the conspirators. "The noble Brutus/ hath told you Caesar was ambitious,/If it were so, it was a grievous fault, /And grievously hath Caesar answered it,/ Here, under the leave of Brutus and the rest-/ For Brutus is an honorable man,/ So are they all are honorable men" (2.3.84-91) Antony starts off his speech agreeing to not demize the conspirators. However, it is clear to the reader that Antony does everything in his power to show they were not honorable men without saying they were dishonest.…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Anne Quindlen Analysis
    • 543 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Anne Quindlen Analysis

    Anne Quindlen’s simplistic view to” give up the nonsensical and punishing quest for perfection” will only work in a perfect society, but society is not perfect. While some conform to the standards of perfection to make others proud, most conform out of necessity. “The joker” does not want to be the worker. “The goofball” does not want to be “the thinker”. They conform because in order to get stable job, in order to support their family society demands them to become someone they aren’t. The thousands of prospect actors and actresses swamping Hollywood with hope in their eyes only to get turn down or put into thirty second commercials is proof that you cannot always live the life you want and make a living out of it. It’s easy for a wealthy middle aged woman to tell others to “give up” and live life. She doesn’t go to bed hungry, she doesn’t go to bed worrying how she’ll pay her bills, she doesn’t go to bed worrying how she’ll feed her children, but for millions of Americans that isn’t reality. For millions of Americans they have no opportunity to leave their “backpack full of bricks far behind” and become a stay at home parent. Some may argue that Quindlen isn’t directing her speech to these Americans; her audience is the wealthy and/or educated graduates of a private college in New England. But the wealthy and educated are exactly the people who need to be pushed, who need to strive to become perfect to better society. The rich and educated have the largest impact on society. If they were encouraged to give up and deny societies’ expectations of them, who else will pull society to the great heights it can achieve? Who else will make break through scientific discoveries? Who else will come up with brilliant business ideas and put them to action? Our…

    • 543 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    The Pound Cake speech by Bill Cosby a well-known actor, comedian, and Philanthropist delivered a controversial speech called The Pound Cake Speech which was presented on May 17, 2004 at the NAACP Gala at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. In this speech, Cosby was highly critical to members and divisions of the African American community in the United States. He criticized the use of African American dialect, the problems with bad parenting and various other social behaviors. Bill Cosby was effective in his speech because he combined a humorous approach with an emotional and logical appeal.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    I believe that the rhetorical strategy of narration is both seen differently in the article, “Unnatural Killers”, by John Grisham and the article, “The Case Against College Athletic Recruiting” by Ben Adler. Both appeal emotionally to the reader but one is a lot more logical in its approach then the other.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    Well-known Sci-fi writer, Ray Bradbury, in his novel, Fahrenheit 451, illustrates that relationships reflect who individuals are and who they want to be. Bradbury’s purpose is to promote the idea that a person should have the courage to listen to their own beliefs and thoughts of happiness rather than to blend in with society. He adopts a disoriented and poetic tone in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences on a non-realistic scale in his young adult readers.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Somnambulism Analysis
    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Somnambulism Analysis

    Albert Einstein once said, “Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value”. Implying that people tend to get blinded in the hunt of personal triumph in their lives that they forget what really is important to them. Similarly, in Alfie Kohn’s How “Not to Get into College”, Daniel Barwick’s “The So Called Iced Cream” and Heron Jones’s Somnambulist, the authors develop the message that people assume that chasing external rewards equals joy and satisfaction in their lives. However, their intentions ultimately lead to temporary happiness, long term problems mainly due to the fact that they expel the thought of intrinsic…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Perfection In Emerson's 'Self Reliance'
    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Perfection In Emerson's 'Self Reliance'

    Perfection. It's more than just a universal truth. We believe in it. We crave it. We strive for it. It’s safe to say we basically breathe for it. But tell me, what is perfection? Each and every individual asked that question would have a greatly altered definition of their perception of perfection, ranging from personal appearance to success. It is a mere fact that depending on who you are, where you grew up, and what you're capable of, you are presented with different expectations on how you should live your life. You will always be expected to be the very best; to be perfect. It is quite understandable, even from an average person’s perspective, that along with being a well-known individual, certain expectations from the general public exist.…

    • 1638 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Culture and Anarchy Analysis

    • 281 Words
    • 1 Page

    Culture and Anarchy Analysis

    In this short snippet from Culture and Anarchy Matthew Arnold tries to explain total perfection in society and ones self. Arnold explains that in order to strive for total perfection the person must first recognize the problem at hand. The person must realize that taking action and changing their regular routine is the only way to fix the problem. If you are aware of a problem but do nothing you are not helping at all you are just turning a cold shoulder and the problem will continue or become a greater conflict. For example, if you see a child playing with matches and do nothing you could later find a greater problem has occurred. This problem could range from not having matches to light a candle in a storm; to having a fire started, burning down the building and killing the child. In order to reach total perfection you need to take the initiative to changing your routine. Matthew talks about how we act loyal to our stock notions and habits but have rather fallen into a mechanical working were we are stuck on the tracks of our habits. In order to get off these tracks of habit we need to stop looking at them as loyalty and look at them as a boundary or stubbornness. These stock notions and habits are not helping us get to a state of total perfection. In fact, these notions and habits are holding us back from changing our mindsets and trying to solve the problem at hand. Once the problems are solved, if ever, then we reach the state of total perfection.…

    • 281 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics