One of the first things that must be done during the motivational lecture is to make sure that an emotional connection is established with the audience. The person who is taking center stage has to create an impression that the people who are part of the audience must be able to relate and empathize with the person delivering the message. In this regard, Neil Gaiman has made a good start as he has made sure the audience feels connected with him, and there is no sense of superiority when it comes to the speaker. The other thing that should be considered is the overall level and intellect of the people who are part of the audience. By stating that people who are trying to make a career in arts have no idea how their career might pan, it comes across as a deliberate strategy to show that no matter how far you reach, your starting point remains the same. The thesis statement during the course of this assignment is to show whether rhetorical analysis is a good strategy to convey your message.
In this speech, the speaker is emphasizing the point that how people who are starting a career in arts most of the time have no idea what direction their career is supposed to take. Thus it is necessary that people should have hold of their strengths and weaknesses. Once people know what they can do and what is beyond their reach, they can work on these areas (Gaiman, 2012). The power of an idea is also talked about during the speech. The speaker here has prompted people just to take the initiative, and if there is an interesting idea they have in their mind, then the best thing is actually to go ahead with this idea.
The other aspect the speech talks about is the way failure has to be dealt with. It talks about ensuring that the person does not allow failures to bring the spirit of the person down. In the field of art, the importance of learning from failures and taking them into your stride is what separates best from the rest (Ruebottom, 2013). The same thing goes with mistakes; everyone is prone to make mistakes, and if mistakes are being made, then one should realize the fact that at least some sort of learning is gained from these mistakes. The speech talks about how individuality is one of the strengths of the artist; the idea is to bring about an effort to make something on your own. The uniqueness in the field of arts is critical, and even though taking inspiration from someone is important, the idea should be to create something on your own (Gaiman, 2012). In hindsight, the speech concludes with how the creation of art and striving in today’s world is a liberating but terrifying prospect. Trusting one’s instinct is of paramount importance to be successful in professional arts where people are really quick to pass judgments.
Coming towards the sort of Rhetorical Strategy used in this speech, the idea is to carry out the analysis of the result of something. The way it proceeds is by carrying out a variety of ways, such as creating a definition of the key term and a description of the object. It is also about narrating or recalling a particular experience. For instance, looking at this phrase
“We’re in a transitional world right now, if you’re in any artistic field because the nature of distribution is changing, the models by which creators got their work out into the world, and got to keep a roof over their heads and buy sandwiches while they did that, are all changing. “(Gaiman, 2012)
It can be seen that the analysis of the work and object is carried out by the speaker to further illustrate a point and concept.
One of the key advantages the rhetorical strategies is that they allow the presentation of the ideas and the evidence to be carried out in a better manner. One of the key facts about these strategies is that they help the speaker to make sure that all the evidence that is presented during the narration is well organized. The other thing that they do is that they become important when the purpose of an argument needs to be presented. During his speech, he gave an example of Stephen King, where he asked him to enjoy his work (Ruebottom, 2013). And when he didn’t, the enjoyment was taken out of the work, and thus the desired results were not achieved. This is a classic example of how rhetorical strategy creates an argument.
The commencement speech that was delivered by Neil is considered as one of the best commencement speeches and a good word for inspiration for all the art students. There are many aspects of the speech that make it one of the better speeches for inspiration, especially for the art students who are trying to find their feet. Neil makes a conscious attempt to make sure that he lets the audience relate to himself and all his struggles. He discusses the moments of doubt with the audience as well so that they can develop a connection with the people. He used rhetorical techniques and strategies as well to his advantage. For instance, by quoting the example of Stephen King, he shows the moments when he made mistakes in his career and how it affected them.
Works Cited
Gaiman, Neil, Keynote Address: The University of the Arts, 2012
Ruebottom, Trish. “The microstructures of rhetorical strategy in social entrepreneurship: Building legitimacy through heroes and villains.” Journal of Business Venturing 28.1 (2013): 98-116.
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