Rhetorical Analysis essay

              Steve Jobs the Chief Executive Officer, Apple, and Pixar Animation delivered an influential speech to Stanford University students. The speech was delivered during the commencement ceremony on June 12, 2005. The purpose of the speech was to inspire the graduates to pursue their passion. Steve Jobs used some important points from his life history to persuade the students to focus on the fields of their interest. Steve Jobs speech used a simple structure, which made the speech to be effective to his audience. The speech included the introduction, three stories of his life, and the conclusion. The address by Steve Jobs used all the essential elements of a speech such as rhetorical devices and colloquial language, which made the speech to be effective to the audience.

The speech introduction creates a comfortable environment for the audience. In the introduction, Steve motivates the students by stating that they are in one of the best universities in the world (Lancaster, 2015). “I am honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world.” Steve follows by admitting that he never went to a university, making his audience feel valuable and cheerful about themselves. The speech has a strong thesis statement that lays the foundation for the speaker’s three important stories. In the opening of the speech, the attention of the audience is attracted when the speaker states that he will only be focusing on three stories and nothing more (Lancaster, 2015). “That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.” The speech employs a very simple structure, which makes it more effective to the target audience. The speaker uses a classical structure that includes the introduction, three stories, and the conclusion. The speaker uses simple sentences in his speech to make the structure of the speech simple, and hence effective to the audience.

Steve Jobs employs numerous figures of speech and physical expressions to make the speech according to anne. Steve executes pausing and timing to emphasize on the key points (Streeter, 2015). “Even when it leads you to well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.” After this sentence, the speaker pauses for around six seconds to emphasize on the point and create a room for the audience to reflect on the message. In conclusion of the speech, the speaker uses the repetition technique to add strength to the key arguments of the speech (Lancaster, 2015). The speaker concludes by repeating “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Repetition makes the speech more attractive and has a long-lasting effect on the audience. The speaker uses well-crafted antithesis by bringing out contradicting ideas to make the audience understand the points in his argument (Lancaster, 2015). “If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in.” The speaker also attracts the attention of his audience by using alliterative sounds throughout the speech like “being a beginner.” The speaker creates a common ground for his audience by telling his personal stories to the audience. The stories in the speech are relevant to the audience in meaning and emotional level. The speaker attracts the attention of his audience by the use of rhetoric questions. At the outset of the first story the speaker confronts the audience with a rhetoric question “So, why did I drop out?” to attract the attention of the audience. The speaker uses the metaphor, “life is a journey” and other rhetoric devices to reinforce on the theme “life circle” in his speech.

The speaker identifies himself as a leader of great ethos by sharing his life experiences from his heart. Use of storytelling approach, metaphors, amplification, and repetition in the speech inspired the graduates to pursue their passion, which was the purpose of the speech (Richardson, 2013). However, there are some areas of the address where the speaker needs to improve to make it more effective in the future. The speaker did not maintain eye contact with the audience. The speaker read the entire speech directly from sheets of paper, which killed his eye contact with the audience. The speaker can improve his eye contact with the audience by delivering speech instead of reading the speech. The speech by Jobs was eloquently written on paper, but the voice was not clearly presented. After writing the speech on the piece of paper, Jobs was required to rehearse the speech loudly to find out areas where written English didn’t work to improve on vocal delivery. Jobs failed to use posture and gestures in his speech. The speaker should not focus too much on reading the speech but make use of facial expressions to improve the physical aspects of the speech delivery.

In conclusion, Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford University was effective and had a long-lasting effect on the audience. Use of rhetoric devices ensured that the audience remained attentive throughout the speech delivery. Steve Jobs personal life experiences inspired the graduates to pursue their passion, which was the purpose of the speech. The speaker needs to improve on the physical and vocal aspects to make the speech more effective. Use of simple sentences and simple speech structure made the speech effective.