How is success determined? By financial stability or the name of your degree? These questions are answered in the essay “The Future Has an Ancient Heart” As graduation season approaches most schools may go search for a commencement speaker, to give words of encouragement as they go forth into the corporate world. The University of Alabama has not had a speaker in five years though one creative writing professor was trying to change that. In his efforts, he contacted Cheryl Strayed, an anonymous author of a famous novel. She ended up replying with a sentiment of reassurance. The reality is that many English majors are pursuing their passion, and as a result, they have little insight to their future financial stability. She explains that your happiness is always put above others and that success is how you perceive it. Strayed uses various appeals throughout her essay to convey her message that success is defined by how you perceive it. Another one of her main points and message is that you control your own destiny and what you are now will determine your future. Success is what you define it as, whether that be financial stability or having a family, everyone’s perception of it is different. Strayed states while writing to the English majors that even though their degree could be devalued by the outside world it will be of tremendous value to them. She is using pathos to appeal to. The audience and make them realize that their dream is validated. The main audience of Strayed is the intended English majors but also other readers such as our English class. Strayed uses her own life experiences to appeal to pathos. As an English major herself she wasn’t successful until the publication of her novel. Even though she never finished her degree she did graduate with a diploma saying she still needed to complete a final class. Throughout the essay she reassures the audience that their choice of major is valid “And you’re going to be all right not because you majored in English or didn’t and not because you plan to apply to law school or don’t, but because all right is almost always where we eventually land.” This is an example of pathos because Strayed is using emotional context to connect to the reader. Although many English majors may doubt their choice, she proves that you can be successful if you put your mind to it. When Strayed was young her mother passed away and she uses the appeal of emotion to pull the audience in and prove that you can achieve what you desire in life. As Strayer grew older and became a waitress as her mother had been, she realized that she was a disappointment. Even though she had her own destiny she felt that she had let her mother down because even though she graduated with a degree, she wasn’t utilizing it. As a credible writer Strayed also has the appeal of ethos with her publication of a novel and success in the writing industry. She has to credentials and more to be able to tell these students her advice on going into the corporate world. This appeals to the reader because it gives her more credibility and relevance towards her position as a commencement speaker. The students are more likely to listen to someone who has similarities to them then someone who doesn’t. Strayed also uses Kairos throughout her essay to recognize the place the students are currently in in their lives. The essay in particular was written as a result of a need for a graduation speech. The audience is currently in a time where they are graduating and need encouragement and as a result the essay is written in a specific tone. The tone she creates is very serious but encouraging as her example as a successful author could be an example to the students that they can be successful as well. As Strayed composes her essay, she uses rhetorical devices to make a connection with her audience and get her message across. The three appeals of pathos, ethos and kairos can be found throughout Strayed’s composition. These devices help her to get her message across that success is how you define it to be. The devices also help convey her other message that your destiny is controlled by yourself. As a commencement speaker she hopes to encourage the audience to pursue their passion even though they may be deterred from doing so.
Reflection
To begin the essay I first had to evaluate the text and decide what rhetorical devices were most prevalent. After doing so i then composed a thesis statement to begin the rough draft of the essay and lay out my thought process. As I completed my second draft I used the advice from my conference to help me further develop my essay. I then revised any spelling and grammatical errors. When i started my final draft I kept in mind my my peer revisions and advice to edit my essay. I added more towards my conclusion and split up the body paragraph. For my final draft I also added more examples of rhetorical devices and revised my conclusion paragraph. I also corrected any grammatical errors. Lastly I expanded on my analysis and used the advice from my conference to make another body paragraph. The feedback from the conference helped me because it was a one on one conversation and I could clearly see any mistakes I had previously made. The peer revision is very helpful for me because it gives a different perspective and lets me know what I should revise. Reviewing another peer's paper was also helpful because I could see what they needed to revise and realized that I may need to revise the same thing. The class activities helped me to use the rhetorical devices properly in my essay to support my analysis. This paper was unique from most I had written in the past because there were two rough drafts instead of one. This was helpful because I could look over my work twice and revise it very throughly before turning in the final draft. My writing process could improve by using more time management. Advice I would give myself when first starting this project would be to not procrastinate and utilize all resources. Also to learn how to use the library printer.