Analysis of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Commencement Speech at Duke University—From the Perspective of Rhetoric

【Abstract】It is a tradition that some successful people deliver a speech in the commencement of their Alma master. These speeches sound convincing and encouraging due to the employment of rhetorical theories. This paper aims to analyze some rhetorical theories used in this speech so as to explore the general features of the commencement speech.

【Key words】commencement speech； rhetoric theories

【作者簡介】范亞男，女，陜西西安人，西安外國語大學(xué)英文學(xué)院，在讀研究生，2017級外國語言學(xué)及應(yīng)用語言學(xué)專業(yè)。

1. Introduction

This is a commencement speech for the Class of 2018 by the Apple CEO—Tim Cook. The main ides is that graduate students should be brave to take challenges for the current situation and be quick to take actions right now right here. Rhetoric is defined as “the power of finding the available arguments suited to a given situation” （Crowley and Hawhee 1）. It educates people and thus changing mind.

2. The Analysis of Rhetoric Theories

After reading the passage， I found that there are many rhetorical theories in this speech， such as kairos， stasis theory， the use of common topics and the commonplaces， and metaphors. Theses rhetorical theories make the speaker sound convincing and encouraging， and let the audience believe in and change.

Firstly， kairos theory is used in the speech. This a commencement speech delivered in the university graduation season in the world. At this exciting moment， Cook addressed his sincere congratulations and expectations to the Class of 2018 at Duke University. Meanwhile， he grasped this right moment to express his thanks to his favorite professor—Bob Reinheimer whose course sharpened his public skills in Cooks school year. This is a more situational kind of time， something close to what we call “opportunity” （Crowley and Hawhee 45）. By looking back to the past， the speaker and audience can establish a close relationship due to the same experience， and arouse the common emotions easily.

Then Cook pointed that “You entered the world at a time of great challenge，” which linked the facts with the current situations where the graduate students faced. Cook showed the great challenge from the perspective of country， planet， school， and communities in order to remind the young people should have a high pursuit for the sake of the self-development and the world development. In my opinion， Cook wants to hold his position clearly and firmly that graduates and the young people should recognize the reality but be brave to make change. This is the application of the stasis theory which rhetor takes a stand in his speech.

Thirdly， there are some common topics and commonplaces used in this speech. They can enhance the understanding by referring to them. However， in rhetoric， the term topic refers to any specific procedure that generates arguments by means of definition， division， comparison， contrast， etc. while the commonplace refers to statements that circulate within ideologies. I often confused with these expressions which allude to ideological， political， religious， and cultural meaning. For example， when I read “Melinda Gates has really made her mark in the world，” I was puzzled that why people in present laugh on hearing this sentence. However， there are some topics mentioned here are not very confused such as the global warming， the control of gun violence， the rights of immigrants， etc.

Finally， the application of metaphor embodied on the words of “Act”. Its original version goes this” Look back over your shoulder fondly and say good-bye to Act 1 of your life. Then quickly look forward. Act 2 begins today”. Metaphor can be explained and explored. Obviously， it used here as a noun. There are six explanations in the Collins. From my point of view， its metaphorically means that college life is just a stage of life. Its time to make efforts to seek for or to go through the splendid act of next stage in life rather than addict in the past.

3. Conclusion

In short， the employment of rhetoric theories in this speech not only makes this speech readable and understandable for the readers， native or foreign， but also inspires the emotion resonance of all America young people. It is necessary to use these theories in delivering a speech especially in such situation where needs to arouse the audiences sympathy and most importantly， to take action.

References：

[1]Crowley，Sharon and Debra，Hawhee.Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students.New York：MacMillan，2009.