Alexis Ballard Mrs. Reece English II Honors 5/17/24. Rhetorical Analysis of Fred Rogers Speech In 2002, Fred Rogers delivered a speech at the graduation ceremony for Dartmouth College to send an important message to the students. In his speech he displays powerful symbolism, repeatedly describes how crucial the people around you are, and reveals contrasts in life to change mindsets in order to persuade his audience of their self-worth and appreciate people who have helped shape them. Roger displays power symbolism through storytelling and word choice to help convey his message to his audience. For instance, Roger describes, “Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is part of that jewel” (paragraph 1). Here he uses a jewel to help showcase how everyone is …show more content…
Now that Rogers has helped the audience discover the impact of others around him, he demands that they remember that other people helped build their foundations. This pushes his agenda of persuasion that it is essential to appreciate people who help shape you. Furthermore, Rogers reveals stark contrasts found throughout life with an optimistic lens in hopes of changing the crowd's mindsets. Rogers claims, “Love that conquers hate” (Paragraph 7). This short but meaningful sentence is a powerful contrast that applies to everyone in the audience. It leads the graduates listening to the speech to look deeper into how they view both themselves and the world around them. As it is given in an optimistic tone, it also may lead the audience to change their views that they previously held. In addition, Roger concludes, “And justice proves more powerful than greed” (Paragraph 7). This helps inject the audience with a sense of hope as he makes the bold statement that in the end, the good prevails over the bad and that it may not be as bad as it seems. These uses of significant contrasts encourage the audience to have a