Conan O'Brien Commencement Speech Analysis
ENGL101 Final
May 15, 2012
Invention
Conan O’Brien gave his commencement speech at Dartmouth in 2011, congratulating the graduating class and imparting a few words of wisdom.During his speech, he appealed mostly to pathos and ethos, being as this was a commencement speech, there wasn’t very much need to appeal to logos using stats or facts. He used pathos to appeal to the graduating students by telling about his falling out with NBC and how he came back to fame with his talk show on TBS. He said “I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s okay.” When saying that, he was telling them that it’s okay to be faced with failure or a change of plans, that it’s not the end of the world. He talked about failure and whether you fear it, or not, you will at some point be faced with disappointment. Through the use of his personal stories of struggle, failure, and success, he appeals to the emotions. But even throughout these stories, he would still sometimes slip in a humorous line to keep it light hearted and not too gloomy, which a commencement speech should all but not be. Through the use of his own personal stories about failure, and the references to other comedians, he builds his credibility. He talks about how great comedians have strived to be like the comedians they looked up to, and each failing to become like that role model, but with this failure they inevitably defined themselves and who they were. He then goes on to say “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.” Here, he appealed to the students by saying that when they are faced with what seems like failure, if they handle it right, they can turn that failure into something good and help redefine themselves or go on to be greater than before.
Conan also
May 15, 2012
Invention
Conan O’Brien gave his commencement speech at Dartmouth in 2011, congratulating the graduating class and imparting a few words of wisdom.During his speech, he appealed mostly to pathos and ethos, being as this was a commencement speech, there wasn’t very much need to appeal to logos using stats or facts. He used pathos to appeal to the graduating students by telling about his falling out with NBC and how he came back to fame with his talk show on TBS. He said “I am here to tell you that whatever you think your dream is now, it will probably change. And that’s okay.” When saying that, he was telling them that it’s okay to be faced with failure or a change of plans, that it’s not the end of the world. He talked about failure and whether you fear it, or not, you will at some point be faced with disappointment. Through the use of his personal stories of struggle, failure, and success, he appeals to the emotions. But even throughout these stories, he would still sometimes slip in a humorous line to keep it light hearted and not too gloomy, which a commencement speech should all but not be. Through the use of his own personal stories about failure, and the references to other comedians, he builds his credibility. He talks about how great comedians have strived to be like the comedians they looked up to, and each failing to become like that role model, but with this failure they inevitably defined themselves and who they were. He then goes on to say “It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right, your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.” Here, he appealed to the students by saying that when they are faced with what seems like failure, if they handle it right, they can turn that failure into something good and help redefine themselves or go on to be greater than before.
Conan also