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david foster wallace speech analysis.
david foster wallace commencement speech analysis
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Throughout the speech, Wallace cultivates southern pride by evoking images of the Old South which further highlights its timeless connection to southern identity. While Wallace uses references of the Founding Fathers and the Civil War era to create an urgent lamentation for Alabamians to restore the former glory of the region, those references also enhance the theme of memory and pride in southern history and heritage. Initially, Wallace highlight the importance of Southerners and Southern values in founding the United States as he references George Washington and Thomas Jefferson who “played a most magnificent part in erecting this great divinely inspired system of freedom” (Wallace). Furthermore, Wallace references famous figures of the Even though the course heavily focuses on the formation and importance of Southern identity, Wallace and his speech is a prime example of how and why the past is deeply ingrained in the present. After almost every reference to religion or the Civil War, there are loud cheers and rebel calls from the audience which signifies their deep connection to those values. It demonstrates the importance of remembering and celebrating the past because it is an integral part of Southern identity. Furthermore, this shows how references to the Old South have always resonated deeply with Southerners throughout time. These images also influences “what it means to be from or in the South” because the overwhelming response from the audience demonstrates how part of their identity is forever associated with the Civil War and traditional Southern values like freedom and religion. It is also used to explain the struggle and evolution between Southern pride and blame. As many of Wallace’s supporters later denounce him and his ideology, they often wrestle with celebrating their past as defenders of freedom and states’ rights while remembering images of racial violence and social trauma (Settin ' the Woods on Fire). This also demonstrates how Wallace and his action are forever seared Much like the modern day Donald Trump, Wallace was a “tell it like it is” politician who tapped into the anger and emotions of voters. Wallace’s vehement delivery of the speech along with his folksy style has passed on to many modern Southern politicians like Lindsey Graham. However, one of the biggest impacts of his speech is its contribution to the decline of
Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Appealing to both people of the North and South, Reed accurately describes many traits and qualities of Southerners in his opening paragraph, “You’re in the American South now, a proud region with distinctive history and culture” (17). He effectively employs pathos throughout his introduction and captures the reader’s attention from the beginning by saying, “Where churches preach against, ‘cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women’ and American football is a religion” (17), thus immediately appealing to peoples traditional values. While cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women have values in the Southern culture, not all churches in th...
Disapproval, the Confederacy, and slavery were amongst the many crises Abraham Lincoln faced when addressing his First Inaugural speech (Lincoln, First Inaugural, p.37). Above all, Lincoln’s speech was stepping on the boundaries of the southern slave states. Once states began to secede, new territories formed and the disapproval of Lincoln grew. Despite Lincoln’s attempts of unifying the antislavery and confederate views, many whites refused to follow his untraditional beliefs. Lincoln encountered hostile and admirable emotions from the people of the Union and the Confederacy. However, despite his representation of the Union, not everyone agreed with his views.
William Anderson presents a well-written history of the rise and fall of a Georgia demagogue, Eugene Talmadge. Anderson's narrative provides insight into Talmadge's popular support and how he orchestrated the perception of being a "man of the people." He also has a smooth flowing writing style that keeps the story moving and the reader interested in following along.
In the months following the Brown v. Board of Education decision C. Vann Woodward wrote a series of lectures that would provide the basis for one of the most historically significant pieces of nonfiction literature written in the 20th century. Originally, Woodward’s lectures were directed to a local and predominantly southern audience, but as his lectures matured into a comprehensive text they gained national recognition. In 1955 Woodward published the first version of The Strange Career of Jim Crow, a novel that would spark a fluid historical dialogue that would continue for the next twenty years. Woodward foresaw this possibility as he included in the first edition, “Since I am…dealing with a period of the past that has not been adequately investigated, and also with events of the present that have come too rapidly and recently to have been properly digested and understood, it is rather inevitable that I shall make some mistakes. I shall expect and hope to be corrected.” Over this time period Woodward released four separate editions, in chapter form, that modified, corrected, and responded to contemporary criticisms.
In American culture, the South has more or less been stereotyped and degraded in various ways, which naturally brings about a sense of defensiveness. The southerners stick together to defe...
In today’s society, one of the most natural human traits is selfishness. David Foster Wallace incorporated this idea in his commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. Wallace aims to persuade his audience that, “the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” Although the intended audience of his speech is the graduates and staff, along with their friends and family, the piece has become quite popular since its delivery. Wallace offers, “nothing less than the truth” and captivates the listeners with his complete honestly. His personal tone lets the audience feel like they are a part of the conversation, rather than just receiving it. Wallace successfully conveys his message that society is blind to the world around them through the use of logic, humility and emotional appeals.
People attending schools before 1960’s were learning about certain “unscrupulous carpetbaggers”, “traitorous scalawags”, and the “Radical Republicans”(223). According to the historians before the event of 1960’s revision, these people are the reason that the “white community of South banded together to overthrow these “black” governments and restore home rule”(223). While this might have been true if it was not for the fact that the “carpetbaggers were former Union soldiers”, “Scalawags… emerged as “Old Line” Whig Unionists”(227). Eric Foner wrote the lines in his thesis “The New View of Reconstruction” to show us how completely of target the historians before the 1960’s revision were in their beliefs.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech may have many differences with George Wallace’s “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever” speech but they share some similarities as well. They both share a need for freedom. One wants freedom from segregation and the other wants freedom from being told what to do. Also they discuss religion and what it means for them. One uses it as slander and the other uses it to promote peace among people. Insert third point. Commentate here. Comparing and contrasting both speeches will show how alike and dislike both are.
The commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in the autumn of 2005, is a very deep speech that examines the whole idea of a Liberal Arts education at an extremely deep and intellectual level. In the 22 minute long speech Wallace talks about how higher education not only teaches you to think but “how to exercise some control over how and what you think.” (Wallace). Wallace later in his speech stresses the importance of this level of thinking by saying “if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed” (Wallace) What he means by saying this is that if you cannot think at a higher level and make sense of real world problems your life will become meaningless and you will become dead inside your head.
When students across the United States study the 1940’s, one main topic is focused on, World War II. Students learn that during the forties, Europe was war torn and America sent its troops overseas to fight in some of the most infamous battles of the twentieth century. But what is left out of history lessons is what was going on American soil when the battles across the ocean were raging on. This decade was a racially charged time in American history, even though this fact is over shadowed by the Nazis of Germany in history books. Several race riots occurred in the forties. Even though they were equal in violence to the riots of the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, many Americans forget the riots of the forties. The biggest and bloodiest race riot of the 1940’s took place in Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1943. Several publications covered the riots, and none of the printed facts ever matched up until years later. This rioting resulted from a rumor that flowed through city streets. The rumor and the riot that it caused destroyed an entire city and many human lives. James Baldwin emphasizes the historical significance of rumors and uses this theme in his essay, “Notes of a Native Son,” to highlight the struggle toward equality.
When faced with differing threats, one haphazard and domestic the other formidable and foreign, both James Madison and Abraham Lincoln understood their audience and attempted to exploit this knowledge. While the specific details of why the United States went to war with Great Britain in 1812 and with the “so-called ‘Confederate States” in 1861, the similarities in language and imagery are evident. In their respective addresses to congress on the topic of impending or open war, both Presidents Madison and Lincoln attempt to appeal to the legislatures sense of patriotism, honor and pride in justifying their actions or desires.
The American Civil war is considered to be one of the most defining moments in American history. It is the war that shaped the social, political and economic structure with a broader prospect of unifying the states and hence leading to this ideal nation of unified states as it is today. In the book “Confederates in the Attic”, the author Tony Horwitz gives an account of his year long exploration through the places where the U.S. Civil War was fought. He took his childhood interest in the Civil War to a new level by traveling around the South in search of Civil War relics, battle fields, and most importantly stories. The title “Confederates in the Attic”: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War carries two meanings in Tony Horwitz’s thoughtful and entertaining exploration of the role of the American Civil War in the modern world of the South. The first meaning alludes to Horwitz’s personal interest in the war. As the grandson of a Russian Jew, Horwitz was raised in the North but early in his childhood developed a fascination with the South’s myth and history. He tells readers that as a child he wrote about the war and even constructed a mural of significant battles in the attic of his own home. The second meaning refers to regional memory, the importance or lack thereof yet attached to this momentous national event. As Horwitz visits the sites throughout the South, he encounters unreconstructed rebels who still hold to outdated beliefs. He also meets groups of “re-enactors,” devotees who attempt to relive the experience of the soldier’s life and death. One of his most disheartening and yet unsurprising realizations is that attitudes towards the war divide along racial lines. Too many whites wrap the memory in nostalgia, refusing...
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
Of the many truly inspirational speeches given by African Americans, Booker T. Washington’s The Atlanta Exposition Address is one of the few that intends to achieve compromise. In his speech, Washington is trying to persuade an audience composed significantly of white men to support African Americans by granting them jobs and presenting them with opportunities. His goal is to convince his white audience that African Americans will be supplied with jobs lower than those of white men, allowing white men always to be on top. Booker T. Washington’s The Atlanta Exposition Address adopts a tone of acquiescence and compromise to persuade a predominantly white audience to accept his terms.