Rhetorical Analysis Of George Saunders Speech

Whilst growing up you make mistakes. And hopefully you will be forgiven for them, perhaps because you simply did not know any better. Youngsters these days are often accused of being too selfish, narcissistic and even egotistical. Some may say this selfishness leaves no room for love or kindness. George Saunders is a university professor who delivered a speech at Syracuse University. In his speech George focuses on the subject of being a young loving person.In Saunders speech he tells the students about what he consider to be the most important things in life. He starts by telling them about some of his own experiences and intensifies the subject kindness. Saunders uses an incredibly humorous tone, and it is obvious that he is not afraid

Because of the fact that it is absurd and unrealistic, that they become some old, and calls each other, makes it funny. Saunders is well aware of the fact that his audience is younger,and therefore he has adapted his language to them. In that way, with his informal language and usage of humor, he can catch their attention. It comes easily to Saunders to handle to funny pat. He is acutely aware that he has to "speak their language". When he talks about his swimming accident, he illustrates how to use the informal language, "Skinny-dipping in a river in Sumatra, a little buzzed, and looking up and seeing like 300 monkeys sitting on a pipeline, pooping down into the river(..)" (ll. 26-29) The way Saunders talk is not quite how you would talk to President Obama, but it works very well with the students. It is a good way to make a connection to his audience giving the age and to catch their interest, also he is very relaxed in the way he is performing his speech. The language in Saunders speech is the same throughout the whole speech and it comes naturally which makes him look conversational. Saunders is not using any challenging words and uses short straightforward sentences. George Saunders' purpose with his speech is to bring the young people amessage and teach them what he finds important in life, which is the kindness you can give to others. He is reaching out to the students by telling about his own experiences. He wants them to be kind, and therefore he tells them the story about the little girl named Ellen, who was very lonely and got bullied. All of a sudden she moved away. Saunders sympathizes with the girl and even though he was one of the kindest to her, he still