Review of Persuasive Speeches

Overall, I think that the speeches went relatively well. We could all definitely use some more practice in our public speaking because nerves tended to get the better of us. There were many aspects of everyone speeches that I liked. I was surprised that the majority of the class had taken time and effort to prepare a good speech. Getting up in front of our peers is something that we rarely get the opportunity to do, and it was actually fun. The statistics and personal stories that everyone used really helped to persuade the audience to give a ‘Donor Buck,’ and learn something more about the person and what they cared about.

I felt that Breanna did a good job of capturing the emotion of her audience with her personal experience with Riley Hospital for Children. We had discussed in class that capturing the audience with emotion is a powerful use of persuasion.

Steve Dobbs, had taken a more relaxed approach to his speech out of any of us, and it was easy to connect with him because he used texts that we have all read and talked about in class. I was really able to resonate with Steve when he talked about changing the materialistic view on the American Dream to more on what makes us happy so therefore the overall idea of the American Dream would be different or perhaps even better.

Lastly, I enjoyed Katie Gehret’s speech. Even though she was nervous, she calmed down and I resonated with the idea that when you find something you love in life, go for it.

Individual Opportunity

Willy Loman believed success came through the perception others had of you, physical appearance and confidence instead of the hard work and perseverance. Individual opportunity to Willy was to have both of these qualities. Willy instills his ideals into his sons, Biff and Happy; he always stressed the importance of having confidence and pride in oneself because in Willy’s eyes the American Dream was of easy success. His son’s don’t actually fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. Although, Willy was happy that both of his sons were well liked by many, especially the women. To me, Willy’s main flaw was that he failed to admit his personal failures, instead he kept wanting more. He was never satisfied with what he had, even as he aged, he still was looking for a better job that he didn’t have to move anywhere. Eventually Willy reached a point in his life where he just unraveled and started hallucinating and attempting suicide.

Arthur Miller, the writer of the play, believes that success is achieved through hard work and perseverance. The characters in the play that had achieved success through hard work were Charley and his son Bernard. Charley owns a successful business and Bernard has become a very wealthy and important lawyer. Willy was always jealous of the success this family had achieved. The character of Charley functioned as a person that Willy could confide in because he was grounded firmly in practical reasoned analysis. Charley’s son Bernard had the same qualities as his father. He was always looking out for Biff when they were growing up. There is an obvious parallel between these characters to balance out each other’s flaws. Arthur Miller most likely used the characters Charley and Bernard to show that you can be successful through hard work and dedication.

Willy Loman

Willy Loman is an old salesman who is essentially a failure in the business world, but he sees himself as very successful and is obsessed with that notion. Willy Loman had kind of a warped view on the American Dream, which caused more conflict in his family because he wanted the same thing for his children. Willy stressed the importance of popularity over the hard work and risk-taking over perseverance. On page thirty-one of the text Willy stated his popularity saying, “America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England.” (Miller, 31)

The main flaw in Willy is that he refused to realize his personal failures, instead he reminisced on the old days when his brother was alive. He sees himself as successful, and “well-liked” when in reality he borrowed money from his friend Charley. Later, Charley offered Willy a job for him, but taking that job would make him confront the idea of not being successful. At one point early on in his life, he was successful, but eventually his success falls apart, which is why he remains stuck in his past life when he was successful.

Cora Tucker was not successful according to the perception of the American Dream today. However, she views herself as successful and Willy does not, but at one point he did. Cora had made a life for herself helping others, and by that way she achieved success and happiness even though the money she makes is very small.

Both are starting to live a life not for the money, but for what makes them happy. Even though Willy is not very happy with his success or income, he starts doing things that make him happy such as planting a garden. Cora makes herself feel successful and happy by helping those around her. In a way Willy was concerned for the success and happiness of those around him like Cora Tucker. He was constantly giving “advice” to his sons.

Persuasive Speech

Habitat for Humanity is an international and local organization. There are many Habitat for Humanity programs in Indiana. The main goal of this charitable organization is to join with low-income families and community partners to give the opportunity of hope and home-ownership in order to express God’s love to those who are less fortunate. One may argue the selection process that is used when deciding what families deserve the services of Habitat for Humanity. One could ultimately overlook the less fortunate who are unaware of the process to qualify for a Habitat for Humanity home, and not receive their services.

Today it costs more than ever to be self sufficient, and Habitat for Humanity provides a home that allows those who live in poverty to pursue success and self-sufficiency. The new Habitat homeowners won’t have to rely on those around them for shelter because they will now have the opportunity to become more independent.

Cora Tucker

Cora Tucker grew up working as a sharecropper and with very little education. She had gotten married at the young age of seventeen and had worked in a factory to make money. I think that Cora Tucker considered herself successful because she achieved the house that she always wanted to have and became a successful civil rights activist. However, in terms of the idea of the American Dream today and the materialistic view that we take on it, Cora Tucker didn’t achieve the success of the American Dream.

Today, the American Dream is often perceived as the middle-class family with a beautiful home, with the two kids, and a dog. Cora Tucker was in the minority, which we as we discussed in class had major disadvantages when trying to achieve success and she was also born into poverty.

Cora Tucker’s form of success was to reach out to those who didn’t have the same opportunities that she had, and even when she was sick she reached her hand out. This lady compared to the Ralph Waldo Emerson’s idea in the article of Self-Reliance. She had set her own goals, and explored new opportunities, and didn’t let anyone else influence her decisions. Cora Tucker even stated, “If you stop doing things because somebody says something bad about you or does something to you, then you’ll never get anything done.”(Rereading America) Cora had been successful because she reached her self-happiness by reaching out to others even though she hadn’t attained the material wealth associated with the American Dream.

Self-Reliance

Ralph Waldo Emerson points out that the best way to achieve success is the concept of self-reliance. This is setting goals that we want to achieve, and exploring new opportunities as they arise in our lives. It is the whole notion of living the way we want to live, and not letting others influence our decisions. In reality, some struggle with this more than others.

At the end of the article Emerson stated, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.” That principle is self-reliance. Emerson discussed that everyone in a perfect world would be able to achieve all of the same benefits from the same amount of effort exerted. However, this is not the case in our world today. We have read articles about how minorities and different social classes cannot always reap the same benefits. That’s why we can’t rely on others to give us the accomplishment of success. This is where we got into the discussion of politics and should my hard earned money go to those who haven’t achieved the same level of success?

I agree with Emerson, however, his notion of self-reliance is very hard to accomplish. In my opinion, everyone no matter what social class or minority you are born into; it’s what you do with your life that makes you successful. Complete self-reliance maybe hard to achieve, but attempting to become self-reliant is what makes one successful so that we don’t have to rely on others to give us our success.

Class in America--2003

No, I don’t believe that the essay makes a case that the wealthy are exploiting the poor. This essay focused more on recognizing class distinctions, and that we hold a set of beliefs that obscure the reality of class differences. However, the rich are impervious to the notion of what a poor class has to face everyday. Gregory Mantsios had discussed a study that was completed by Susan Ostrander. She had asked some upper class people if they considered themselves part of the upper class. The two people mentioned that they hate the term upper class, and would rather be considered fortunate. Although neither end of the economic spectrum necessarily like the word “class.” Gregory Mantsios talked about the idea that anyone can make it America, but not everyone achieves that dream, and the upper class especially are unaware of what the poor class has to go through. Because of the unawareness of the upper class, it is hard for each class to exploit one another.

Gregory Mantsios doesn’t exploit one group over another in his data. Rather, he shows the difference between the two social classes. He gives examples of profiles of people that are in different class positions to show the spectrum of how each class lives. In some way this data is used to appeal to our emotion helping us understand how a lower class lives.

Themes of Cruz and Alger

The piece called Stephen Cruz is about a Mexican man who had never really questioned the American Dream. He was fortunate enough to attend college, and become very successful in obtaining many jobs and climbing up the economic ladder. Cruz was convinced that, “if you worked hard, you could make it,” and, “the American businessman was omnipotent and fair.” Eventually Cruz started to realize that race was a factor and that the American dream was not based on education, hard work, or opportunity, but through fear and power. Cruz was one of the few people in the minority to overcome the racial barrier and become successful in life. Even though Cruz was successful, he came to the realization that the American dream is more elusive, and that, “the dream is being governed by a few people’s notion of what the dream is.” He was disappointed in the workplace and the American dream. In the piece called Horatio Alger, conveyed that we all have a shot at reaching our true potential through hard work, and persistence. Dalton talks about the Alger myth and the realities of racial equality. He talked about how there are some people who because of racial inequality that discourage people of race to possess a job and some opportunities.

The similarities between the two pieces are that both authors talked about the factors of race and how they affect opportunity and economical advancements. However, even though the authors share the same view on race, they have different views on how the American Dream is actually achieved.

Ragged Dick

In the Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger, Dick saves a young boy from drowning and is rewarded with a well-paid job, and a beginning of a new lifestyle. The implicit argument that Horatio Alger made was that courage and bravery can bring great opportunities, and sometimes, looking out for the wellbeing of someone else will have more benefits.

The whole story was about being at the right place at the right time. Dick was at the beginning of the piece struggling to find a job. It was due to his, “peculiar way of speaking and use of slang terms had been somewhat modified by his education.” (ReReading America, 264). All of a sudden, after saving the young boy, he was giving a job, and nice clothes without having to work extremely hard for it. The boy’s father who Dick saved offered him a counting room job with more than he had ever earned and clothes that he could never afford. The fact that Dick remained modest and didn’t think of the benefits of saving the child is powerful. Implicitly this piece showed that if you care about other people, and aren’t always thinking of yourself good things will happen. If Dick had not saved the boy, then he would still be looking for a job. By selflessly sacrificing part of himself, he received rewards that changed his life. Sometimes, we get caught up in our own lives that we forget about others. However, when we do remember the others, something good always comes of it.