Rhetorical Analysis Of Anna Quindlen

Nelson Mandela coined the phrase, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” That quote, although said in June of 1990, is still prevalent today. Anna Quindlen, a commencement speaker at Washington University’s 2017 graduation ceremony, agrees with Mandela that knowledge is a potent weapon, and further supports his theme of education throughout her entire speech. While some may argue that it is better to be safe rather than sorry, Anna Quindlen challenges the graduates to escape from the fears that hold them back, and to use their weapons of schooling to improve the world and revise what previous generations have done through the use of ethos, repetition, and problem/solution structure. Anna Quindlen is already a well-respected woman, but her use of quotes also helps to strengthen her stance on …show more content…
The more a statement is asserted, the more people believe in it. When using Henry James’ quote, “The first is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the third is to be kind.” Quindlen is telling the new graduates of the most simple, yet difficult, (and by far the most important) trait they could hope to acquire. She is hopeful that their generation will reconstruct a world of spirituality and emotions rather than mathematics and logic. Quindlen is also confident that generation will do better than hers. She claims if they view race, gender identity, and sexuality the same as any other characteristics, and not as burdens, they will have done better. If men and boys see girls and women as their equals in every sense of that word, they will have done better. If they not only preach kindness but also practice and live it? They will have done better. Quindlen says these words multiple times to try and ingrain into the graduates’ brains that they have the potential and ability to do better, to change the world with purely who they