Famous Speech Essay - Grade: A PDF

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Professor Caplan assigned an essay for students to write about the effectiveness of a Famous essay. This paper describes a speech by Denzel Washington. ...

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Daisha Wilson 3/14/18 CMNS 101 Professor Caplan

“Don’t Be Afraid to Fail Big to Dream Big” Denzel Washington was born on December 28th, 1954. He was born and raised in Vernon, New York. He married his sweetheart, Pauletta Washington on 1983. Denzel’s estimated net worth is 220 million dollars. Denzel Washington has been nominated for numerous acting awards, but at Dillard University, on August 15th, 2017, Washington delivered a speech encompassing both verbal and nonverbal communication in order to encourage the student body.

Denzel Washington used aspects of verbal communication effectively portray his life before he became a successful actor. Aspects of verbal communication are volume, tone, and word choice. Washington’s volume tended to fluctuate depending upon what he was trying to the audience. Washington’s speech summarized his journey from college to his current acting career. Denzel was flunking out of college to the point where he was considered joining the Army. One day though, he went to his mother’s beauty shop, and a woman prophesied into his life saying he would become an actor if he follows his dreams. During the speech, he used verbal communication to share his major life events. For instance, when describing the sorrowful moments of his life, Denzel’s volume was soft and a bit “broken” because he was reflecting on painful moments in his past. Some of those moments were flunking college with a 1.7 GPA and being lost in life just to name a few. Another part of verbal communication is tone. Washington’s

tone at time went from formal to informal. He delivered the speech in a formal setting, a college graduation, but he was also informal in his speech because he wanted the audience to relate to his life journey. So, he made a few jokes during the speech, and at times, he used a bit of slang. Denzel’s word choice was mostly very formal. This was appropriate for the occasion because he was speaking to students with college degrees.

Washington also used nonverbal communication in his speech. Nonverbal communication consists of gestures, eye-contact, and body language. Throughout the speech, Denzel made various gestures. For example, he pointed to some members of the audience, and acknowledge various deans of the University. Consistently through the delivery of his speech, he made eye-contact with the audience. Washington was constantly making eye-contact with the audience when he was delivering his speech, instead of verbatomly reading from a paper. His body language showed that he was comfortable delivering his speech. Denzel was not stagnant. He was constantly gesturing to the audience, and was moving around during his speech. He did not remain in the same spot the whole speech, but he was not moving around to the point where it was overbearing.

Washington’s speech has impacted society. Even though this speech was delivered at Dillard University, it has been posted on Facebook and Youtube. The video has received over one hundred thousand views, numerous shares, and numerous comments. So the majority of people who listened to Denzel’s message to that graduating class have never attended this particular institution. Washington’s life has changed because his goal during that speech was to simply encourage a graduating class to not be afraid of failure in order to dream big, but he has impact

so many more individuals across the nation. With his life story, he is now able to encourage and uplift people. Sub-culturally, his speech was targeted to the graduating class of Dillard University, but now his speech has impacted graduates across the country and just regular people in our society. This speech has a positive impact because it encourages individuals to reach for their goals even if it involves failure.

Denzel Washington is a very renowned actor. He has been nominated for numerous acting awards that has allowed him to be on that platform that he is on today. With his platform, he has engaged in public speaking. Some of his speeches have even become very well-known. At Dillard University, Washington gave a speech consisting of both verbal and nonverbal communication in order to impact the student body....