Rhetorical Analysis Of Jason Reynolds Commencement Speech

Sophia Wiercinski

Mrs. Korey

English II Advanced Honors

21 March 2023

In his cleverly crafted and humorously analytic speech given to Lesley University graduates in the 2019 commencement address, Jason Reynolds emotionally coaxes and carefully vocalizes his audience through the use of credibility, cliches, and humor, to advocate that sometimes the right thing to do can have consequences. Jason's strong rhetorical devices and his way of emotionally persuading his audience allow him to develop a captivating commencement speech.

Jason Reynolds exhibits himself to be a strong speaker and starts his commencement speech with the use of establishing credibility. He states, “The first thing I would like to say is, thank you. Thank you for inviting

He states, “And in undergrad, if you attended the ceremony, I’m willing to bet the commencement speech opened with a scholar or a celebrity stating, You made it, followed by some exceptionally intelligent rhetoric, all bending into a narrative arc landing comfortably on, you guessed it, a charge of leadership. And, honestly, all these speeches can boil down to a simple cliché: Get out there, spread your wings, and change the world. That is what I am going to tell you in about five minutes.” Reynolds insinuates that he knows that cliches are used in most commencement speeches but that he finds these cliches are good to use for promoting growth and the “spreading of your wings.” Furthermore, Reynolds states, “And in middle school, perhaps this same speech began with the squeaky-voiced class president professing, We made it, and ended with an earnest but pubescent charge of leadership. In high school, there’s a good chance this began with your valedictorian saying, We made it, then tearing into a borderline roast of certain teachers and administrators, with jokes about student superlatives peppered throughout” (Reynolds Speech). Reynolds uses humor to hook the audience and get them interested in what he has to say moving forward, this shows how Reynolds knows the audience that he is speaking to, and he understands the use of humor in his