Assignment about Rhetorical Analysis

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A Left-Handed Commencement Address Rhetorical Analysis
A Left-Handed Commencement Address by Ursula Le Guin does not necessarily fit into
the typical category of commencement speeches. People expect stories of success from
commencement speeches, a trend that she deviates from. She talks about failure. She brilliantly
and effortlessly manages to craft a message that any woman in the audience would relate to. Le
Guin uses ethos, pathos, and logos, to explain to the women how difficult it is to succeed in the
world, particularly for women.
Ethos entails whether the audience perceives the speaker as credible or not. Even though
we do not have a tape for the address, we are sure that it must have been convincing enough for
it to surpass the constraints of time and space. Her word choice was significant to the situation.
She repetitively uses the pronoun ‘we’ which helps the audience to identify more with her (Guin
1). The language choice in her speech reveals that discrimination towards women is a
widespread problem which results in similar struggles among women. Her choice of subject is
convincing too. Despite the topic being controversial, she strives as much as possible to adopt an
objective point of view without necessarily getting emotional about it and uttering unjustifiable
comments.