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Conan O'Brien Dartmouth Commencement Speech
171
SOAPSTONE
Strengths and Weaknesses
Rhetorical Devices
Speaker: Conan O'Brien
Occasion: Graduation at Dartmouth
Audience: Graduating class of 2011 and their parents.
Purpose: Congratulate the graduates and offer them advice on how to deal with failure.
Subject: Life will take you down unexpected paths and you really have to roll with the punches.
Tone: Comedic, Celebretory
Weaknesses
- Speaks too often about his previous job failure
Conan O'Brien Dartmouth Commencement Speech
DIDLS
Strengths
- Use of comedy to relate to audience
- Speaks often about his own personal failures to establish relatability again
By: Emily Wagner
Ethos: "But don't get me wrong, I take my task today very seriously. When I got the call two months ago to be your speaker, I decided to prepare with the same intensity many of you have devoted to an important term paper. So late last night, I began. I drank two cans of Red Bull, snorted some Adderall, played a few hours of Call of Duty, and then opened my browser."
Pathos: "I told graduates to not be afraid to fail, and I still believe that. But today I tell you that whether you fear it or not, disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality."
Logos: "He served as the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, spearheaded a task force for the World Health Organization on Global Health Initiatives, won a MacArthur Genius Grant, and was one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2006. Good God, man, what the hell are you compensating for? Seriously. We get it. You're smart."
Diction: Informal, abstract
Imagery: Many hyperboles and use of understatements, as well as symbols within speech.
Details: He chooses to go into great detail, especially for comedic effect and relatability to the audience.
Language: As a whole, this piece is sincere and demonstrates how experienced the speaker is.
Syntax: He uses a fair amount of juxtaposition with varying sentence lengths (depending on overall comedic effect).
Youtube Clip
(16:12-19:00)