Kurt Vonnegut had delivered quite a few commencement speeches during his time. One
in particular, at Rice University, contains a multitude of rhetorical strategies that exemplified the
quintessential speech genre. Vonnegut used this genre’s conventions in order to convey his
overarching message to the new graduates, as they leave the university. His message to the new
generation was to reflect back on their own lives, pause, and consider, “If this isn’t nice, what
is?” In other words, the main message was to appreciate what they have at the moment. The
conventions shaped and supported Vonnegut’s message so that it was conveyed clearly and
effectively, which is imperative in a speech.
The first convention of genre is to examine …show more content…
He described the graduation as the moment when the students finally, after a very long
time, become adults. Then he apologized for the large amount of time and money every graduate
spent on trying to reach this point. This was certainly attention-grabbing, because a
commencement is usually a celebration of students’ hard work. Yet his hook sharply contrasted
with the commencement’s purpose of celebration. He started off his speech by setting a negative
tone already. As the speech progresses, his tone altered slightly from being negative to being
very blunt. He stated various realities in a blunt tone to hammer the fact that the real world is not
all that nice. Even with their hard-earned diplomas, the graduates are not going to become
billionaires. They are not going to be famous. A Nobel Prize is not worth that much anymore. So
what can a graduate do? With this progression of a chain of blunt facts, Vonnegut was able to
shape his message effectively. He set up this progression so that by the end, his message of just
being satisfied with what you have is clearly and effectively communicated. The ending
in particular, at Rice University, contains a multitude of rhetorical strategies that exemplified the
quintessential speech genre. Vonnegut used this genre’s conventions in order to convey his
overarching message to the new graduates, as they leave the university. His message to the new
generation was to reflect back on their own lives, pause, and consider, “If this isn’t nice, what
is?” In other words, the main message was to appreciate what they have at the moment. The
conventions shaped and supported Vonnegut’s message so that it was conveyed clearly and
effectively, which is imperative in a speech.
The first convention of genre is to examine …show more content…
He described the graduation as the moment when the students finally, after a very long
time, become adults. Then he apologized for the large amount of time and money every graduate
spent on trying to reach this point. This was certainly attention-grabbing, because a
commencement is usually a celebration of students’ hard work. Yet his hook sharply contrasted
with the commencement’s purpose of celebration. He started off his speech by setting a negative
tone already. As the speech progresses, his tone altered slightly from being negative to being
very blunt. He stated various realities in a blunt tone to hammer the fact that the real world is not
all that nice. Even with their hard-earned diplomas, the graduates are not going to become
billionaires. They are not going to be famous. A Nobel Prize is not worth that much anymore. So
what can a graduate do? With this progression of a chain of blunt facts, Vonnegut was able to
shape his message effectively. He set up this progression so that by the end, his message of just
being satisfied with what you have is clearly and effectively communicated. The ending