Rhetorical Analysis Of Alan Spearmans As I Am

People often take the opportunities they are given for granted. They often don’t consider that, just two blocks away, an entire community of people could be poverty stricken, turning to crime, drugs, and domestic violence all because they were never given the opportunity to strive. In Alan Spearmans’ “As I Am” video, a young speaker named Chris Dean explains to the audience that people are meant to connect. The young man wants the world to be a better place, and more importantly, he wants all people to be given the opportunity to lead a positive and productive life. Because Dean grew up in, survived, and eventually emerged from a disadvantaged community, he is able to effectively convey his message to the audience using many different rhetorical

He takes them to the very streets that his father was murdered, or where, just minutes ago, hookers, drug dealers, pimps, and thugs were all committing their crimes - or as Dean sees it, just trying to survive. He tells the audience that in order to survive they “gotta stay moving. Gotta stay in motion.” Dean knows that his audience is most likely people who have never experienced this way of living, and so by taking them through his average day he is able to evoke pathos upon them. He is able to open their eyes to a whole new experience. Although Dean is a well educated and well spoken individual, he still uses the diction and jargon of someone less educated; someone that, typically, you would find on the streets where he grew up and the very streets that he is showing to the audience. Not only does this method build credibility for what he’s saying, but it shows the audience that, although someone might sound uneducated or “ghetto”, they could actually be a very intelligent

He exemplifies this by pointing out a man standing on the street. He says, “Nine-to-five money too slow, though. In 45 seconds ...click … vroom .. he could be gone in your car.” Dean believes that these people are so helpless, and feel so stuck in their current lives, that when they can’t pull themselves out, they would go so far as to pull somebody else back down with them. What he means by this is that they know there is no use in trying to lead an honest life because they know they’ll get knocked back down anyway. To them, it makes more sense to steal a car, then to get a nine-to-five job. By telling the audience these things, Dean effectively conveys that somebody needs to take a stance and help these