Rhetorical Analysis : George Saunders

George Saunders, an acknowledged American writer of essays, short stories, and children’s books, delivered a lengthy speech to Syracuse University’s graduating class of 2013. It was an interesting take on graduation speeches, as it began with an ode to the many others that came before him. “Down through the ages, a traditional form has evolved for this type of speech, which is: Some old fart, his best years behind him, who, over the course of his life, has made a series of dreadful mistakes (that would be me), gives heartfelt advice to a group of shining, energetic young people, with all of their best years ahead of them (that would be you).” His opening remarks set the tone for what was to come – a delightfully agreeable speech that spoke to students at their level while both entertaining and educating, a feat not easily mastered.

        
        Saunders developed his ethos, or persona and credibility, throughout the speech, but perhaps the most influencing section was his detail of an early childhood experience. He described how he failed to stop the relentless bullying of a shy girl who had just moved into the neighborhood, and culminated the anecdote with the following assertion; “What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.” This passage bolstered his ethos by bringing in a level of pathos. It directly appealed to the audience’s emotions – we feel for the girl in his story on a very personal level, and so we agree with his comments that he should have done more to help her. The audience then associates him with the rightness of his comments, leading us to the conclusion that he himself must be right.  

        Interestingly, throughout the speech Saunders varies between low plain style designed to teach, middle style used to entertain, and high style, which was created to move. He does this most often between paragraphs, but also occasionally uses style shifts within paragraphs.

Do all the other things, the ambitious things — travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial. That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality — your soul, if you will — is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Teresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.

This passage began with low style. It was both easy to follow and easy to comprehend, and left no confusion. It then shifted into middle style. “…swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop)…” This style was entertaining while still clearly conveying his message, and demonstrates one way in which speakers or writers keep their audience’s attention. Finally, the passage ended in high style, which was designed to move the audience to agree with and appreciate the advice he was offering. “Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.”  These style shifts play a vital role in the effectiveness of his speech, but it’s also important to consider the more obscured techniques he employs.

        Although these rhetorical practices are often harder to discern, they can have a big impact on how the audience perceives the speech. Saunders uses a variety of these tools, including metaphors, similes, and climax, but most often relies on parenthesis, parallelism, anaphora, and epistrophe.

        Parenthesis, which is defined as the use of “items that interrupt the normal flow of a sentence,” appears more often than any other technique, and sometimes even appears several times in a single sentence. “I still remember the way she’d look after such an insult: eyes cast down, a little gut-kicked, as if, having just been reminded of her place in things, she was trying, as much as possible, to disappear.” Parenthesis is effective within his speech because it assists him in painting a picture while creating a conversational and intimate tone with which the audience can identify. He’s talking with us, rather than at us.

        In a similar manner, parallelism adds information intended to expand upon and clarify a certain idea. Specifically, parallelism is the utilization of “grammatically equivalent items (words, phrases, or clauses) in coordinated pairs or series.” He does this in several instances with nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. “She came to our school and our neighborhood…” “…sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.” “Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.” Parallelism is also similar to metaphors or similes – it gives us more information through descriptive terms, solidifying his imagery in our own minds. It leads us to feel as though he’s given us all of the information, even though, in reality, this could be biased or partial information. Feeling as though he’s given us the complete truth is another big part of how we, the audience, determine and weigh his credibility.

        However, an effective speech relies on more than just how we feel about the speaker. Far more important is how we think, and repetition can be helpful in insuring that the audience has time to fully comprehend and consider the speaker’s words. Anaphora and epistrophe are interesting in relation to this speech overall because they are both tools of repetition that he often uses in conjunction. Anaphora is the repetition of items at the beginning of a series of sentences, phrases, or clauses, while epistrophe is the repetition of the items that are at the end. When used together, as they are in this speech, they create a sing-songy rhythm that is pleasing to listen to, almost like a poem. “…‘Looking back, what do you regret?’ And they’ll tell you. Sometimes, as you know, they’ll tell you even if you haven’t asked. Sometimes, even when you’ve specifically requested they not tell you, they’ll tell you.”

        Anaphora and epistrophe also work well with other tools, such as parenthesis. These combinations are far more complex, and in this case usually span the length of entire paragraphs.

When young, we’re anxious — understandably — to find out if we’ve got what it takes. Can we succeed? Can we build a viable life for ourselves? But you — in particular you, of this generation — may have noticed a certain cyclical quality to ambition. You do well in high-school, in hopes of getting into a good college, so you can do well in the good college, in the hopes of getting a good job, so you can do well in the good job so you can . . .

       Overall, these tools together create Saunders’s voice, and give us an idea of who he is as a person, a writer, and a speaker. They also work to weave a far more impactful story, one in which the audience invests by listening, participating, and remembering. His message was successfully conveyed, because we had respect for him, faith in his ability to lead us to proper and righteous conclusions, and the anecdotal journey on which we traveled was personal and entertaining.

Lovell, Joel. "George Saunders's Advice to Graduates." The 6th Floor - A New York Times 

        Blog. The New York Times, 13 July 2013. Web. 15 May 2014.

Holcomb, Chris and M. Jimmie Killingsworth.  Performing Prose: The Study and Practice of Style in Composition.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010. Print