Jason Reynolds Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Taylor Scuorzo d
Rhetorical Analysis
3/20/23
Rhetorical Analysis Doing benevolent and selfless things for others can occasionally lead to adverse results. In his enlightening and illuminating commencement address given at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 19, 2018, Jason Reynolds emotionally persuades and informs the graduates at the college through the use of anecdotes and metaphors to show that ignoring the significant problems of the world will not help us fix them. To strengthen his speech, Reynolds uses past personal experiences and the comparison of objects to others to help prove the theme portrayed throughout the speech. In his speech, Reynolds begins to inform the audience about a past experience that traumatized him but transformed his way of thinking. In his speech, he traps the audience by utilizing and manipulating their emotions. Many rhetorical devices are used during his speech but a major one utilized in this speech is anecdotes. A past experience is shared from his college years

Similar to anecdotes, metaphors are used to evoke the emotions of those listening. Metaphors are used in this speech to allow the audience to convey vivid imagery that allows them to translate the true meaning of the statement. He states, “A day to continue to assess the insignificance of being told over and over and over again to spread my wings and change the world, without ever addressing the fact that not everyone has wings.” Humans do not have wings, that fact is well known. The use of the metaphor with the wings is a perfect way to capture the attention of the audience using their emotions. Metaphors such as this one create connections and empathy between the audience and the speaker. Using a metaphor is the perfect way to evoke a reaction from the audience. The use of metaphors in Reynolds’ speech allows the audience to develop empathy toward the speaker and the speaker’s