SOAPSTone

Ethos

Denzel Washington is a credible person because he grew up not rich, famous or with special privileges, but he still became one of the most well known actor producer and director in the industry.

He is credible when it comes to never giving up on your dreams because he used to hang out with the wrong crowd, then he was able to turn his life around follow his dreams and be successful. He has stories about his failures and evidence that he achieved his goal after working hard for many years without many big successes in the beginning. He did not give up or make a back up plan to fall back onto when he doesn't succeed, which is why he is creditable when it comes to this topic.

Look at this handsome fella

Denzel Washington

Setting

Setting

The setting creates credibility as it is a formal event where everyone is graduating college. The timing of this occasion is also very evident as it gives the audience inspiration and tips to help them be more prepared for the future. His idea of falling forward is perfect for young audience as it show that people are still learning and to never give up. You need to fail in order to succeed.

Pictures of the Graduation

Pictures

This picture shows Denzel Washington speaking to the graduating class of 2011 for students in the University of Pennsylvania.

Details

Details

"Everyone in the audience have the talent and power to succeed, but many don't have the gut to fail."- Denzal Washington

This speech helps the graduate prepare for the harsh reality, how they are going to fail, but they must not give up as the next try may be the one.

The speech also tells the audience not to “fall back” onto their back up plans, but instead to “fall forward” and achieve your goals, even when there are many obstacles in the way.

Picture of the Graduating Class of 2011

Picture

This picture shows the graduating class of 2021 in the University of Pennsylvania after they have listen to the speech "Fall forward by Denzel Washington

Evidence

"If I'm going to fall, I don't want to fall back on anything, except my faith. I want to fall forward. I figured at least this way I'll see what I'm going to hit. Fall forward." - Denzel Washington

Throughout the speech, Denzel Washington uses repetition to convey his message to the audience. Again and again, he says "fall forward" within his motivational speech. He wants the audience to understand and face the fact that in order to succeed in life, there will always be setbacks, but if they fall, fall forward. What does this mean? Fall forward means that even if you fail, you need to pick yourself up and keep going until you succeed; learn from your mistakes.

"Every failed experiment is one step closer to success." - Denzel Washington

Examples

Here are some examples that Denzel Washington gave during the speech to enhance the message he wants to convey to the audience:

• "Reggie Jackson struck out 260 times in his career the most in the history of baseball. But you don't hear about the strikeouts. People remember the home runs."
• "Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments. Did you know that? I didn't either, because 1,001 was the light bulb."

Both of these examples show how they were able to achieve success through many failures but since they never gave up, they were able to achieve their final goal. People pay more attention to your success rather than your failures.

Analogy

Denzel Washington quotes Les Brown, a motivational speaker.

"He says, imagine you're on your deathbed and standing around your bed are the ghosts representing your unfufilled potential. The ghosts of the ideas you never acted on. The ghosts of the talents you didn't use. And they're standing around your bed. Angry. Disappointed. Upset. They say we came to you because you could have brought us to life, and now we have to go to the grave together... How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?"

Denzel Washington included this analogy from Les Brown to appeal to the audience and emphasizes the message he wishe to pass onto the audience. He is asking the audience how many times have they allowed their ideas to just pass by becuase they didn't believe they could do it. He uses this analogy in hopes for the audience to understand that they are capable of accomplishing many things, but the first step is to not be afraid to try and fail; and even if they do fail, do not quit or give up on it because it will eventually succeed and pay off.

Evidence

"You will fail at some point in your life. Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There is no doubt about it... But hey, I'm telling you, embrace it. Because it's inevitable." - Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington is stating the reality of life. He understands that as young adults who have yet to fully experience the "adult" world; it is hard to accept the fact that no matter how hard you try or how smart you are, you will always lose, embarrass yourself, or suck at something.

Evidence

He gave many examples from his personal failures in life. Such as the time he auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical, however did not make it. But he didn't quit, he didn't give up, he didn't fall back. Denzel Washington kept on trying, he went to the audition after that, and then the one after that, and the next one after that one. Unfortunately, he also failed over and over and over, but it didn't strike him down. He picked himself back up and kept going.

Tone

Confidence

Denzel Washington sounded confident in his speech. He sounded sure of himself when he was telling the graduating class that they should not quit. He needed to sound confident when saying this because if he didn’t say this confidently then the class would not be so sure about working towards their dreams and not give up even if there are some little bumps along the way.

Tone

Lightheartedness

Denzel Washington in some parts of his speech sounded lighthearted and made jokes. This was important because he presented one of his failures and when he turned it into a joke and laughed about it with the audience he showed his audience one of the little bump along the way that he didn’t let stop him from succeeding. He showed them that after he achieved his goal he was able to look back on his first failure and laugh about it because although he failed getting that one role he still made it on top, which shows one failure doesn’t define the rest of one’s career, which is why you should still keep going.

Pathos

Denzel Washington uses tone to show pathos. He uses the confidence and passion in the way he speaks to convince his audience to believe in his words. The way he spoke evoked admiration from his audience.

He also told jokes to make his audience put their guard down and trust him, also so they can see how he can relate to the students as he was a young person starting out in a new industry with many failed attempts at getting a job.

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