A Rhetorical Analysis Of Megan Washington's Speech

Megan Washington first confessed to having a speech impairment in 2014 at a TedX conference in Sydney. She had grown up with her parents and sister, living in Papua New Guinea since her birth in 1986. At the age of 10 Washington moved to Brisbane with her family where she spent most of her highschool years. Within this period of her life Megan Washington developed a stutter, which she hid from the world as she followed her dreams to become a world known singer. Her speech is being presented at a TedX production in Sydney. This precinct and event was chosen due to the masses different varieties of people that attend. In this performance a formal setting and presentation was not acquired although this did not influence the overall effectiveness …show more content…
' Steve happily became Seve and we got through it that way' is it example of humour located within Megan Washington’s speech. This illustrated event compels people into speculating over the changes that would have to be made to combat particular issues. Hence, it leads the audience members to feel compassionate towards people with a stutter. Many different anecdotes has been listed in Washington’s speech. Megan Washington starts with ‘for me the worst thing was meeting another stutterer,’ before continuing with her momentous story. These give a brief interpretation of her life whilst still gathering the spectators attention. Both literary devices contribute greatly to the appeal of the speech and as a result the use of figurative language was …show more content…
Vocal expression was used towards the middle of the speech in one of the body paragraphs to emphasise the lengths she has gone to, to improve her ability to talk without a stutter. ‘You kind of join everything together in a very singsong, kindergarten teacher way,' is a section in Washington’s speech wherein she mellows out her voice in a musical way. In this way Megan Washington demonstrates her ability to talk properly while she is using this method and it gives spectators an understanding that you can overcome certain issues. Throughout the conversation Washington changes her talking pace to list numerous things. This is seen throughout the first body paragraph when she recites the things she thought would happen when she grew up. When saying ‘I won't have a stutter and then I'll be able to public speak,' Washington raises her voices tempo until she has listed everything. By utilising this technique Megan Washington engages the audience through a point in her speech in which they could have lost attention. Therefore the aforementioned examples express an idealistic understanding towards techniques included in Megan Washington's speech and how they impact viewers.

By presenting this speech Megan Washington aims to alert people of her speaking condition. She also tries to make the audience aware of how difficult it is to maintain a normal life when you get challenged by health