A Rhetorical Analysis Of Jason Reynolds Speech

Lina Magliocco

Mrs. Korey

Honors English II

3/20/23

In his imperative analytical and cleverly put-together speech given to Lesley University in 2018, Jason Reynolds clearly articulates and coherently informs his audience through the use of puns and analogies to advocate for the result of doing the correct deed.

In his speech about consequences for certain actions, Jason Reynolds uses puns to appeal to the audience's emotions. For instance, he says, “And in middle school, perhaps this same speech began with the squeaky-voiced class president professing, We made it, and ended with an earnest but pubescent charge of leadership.” Jason Reynolds surely made the crowd giggle with that statement. His goal was to connect with the audience and get

By constantly making the large crowd in the stadium laugh, Reynolds also made sure to tie in emotional phrases to break it up. Jason Reynolds begins to discuss a high school teacher he had. Mr. Williams “was an odd gentleman, dressed in neon Oxford shirts, knitted ties, and dingy Nikes. He had an actual bowl cut, which was especially funny given that his hair was porcelain white.” He taught Global Studies which all seniors must have taken the class to graduate. Jason Reynolds talks about a fish that they had as a class pet and nobody could lay a finger on it under any circumstances. He, once again, blurted out another pun that made the audience laugh. “I mean, think about it, what high school student wants to open his or herself up to the obvious onslaught of jokes that would ensue from handling a fish in the middle of the school day? None. So…no problem.” Reynolds is indicating that there is no point to have this class pet because

He intertwined the fish story into real-life situations and world lessons. Mr. Williams had a formulated plan all along. He said, “‘Pick your heads up. You have no reason to hang them because you, in fact, did the right thing. But sometimes doing the right thing has consequences.’” As for the rest of us, we then had to sit through the remainder of the class, wallowing in our guilt, in our fear, shifting uncomfortably in our skin.” The right thing that was done was to save the fish because it was flipping and flopping all around on the cold tile floor. Although nobody really cared about the fish, they did not want to see it die. Mr. Williams made it clear and known to the class that sometimes doing the right thing can lead to terrible consequences. The girls that saved the fish ended up getting a two-day suspension, which was the consequence for the students if they touched the fish. The students in the class were disappointed and confused, but there was a lesson to be learned from this disturbing event. Jason Reynolds used the saving of fish and related it to the real world. He states, “Every day is a day of decision-making. A day for me to actively decide what I’m willing to sacrifice, what I’m willing to risk. A day for me to continue to parse the difference between irreverence and irresponsibility.” Every day, we as humans, make difficult choices and decisions and we do not realize it. It could be