A Rhetorical Analysis Of Jason Reynolds Speech

In his emotionally charged speech given to the 2018 graduating class at Lesley University, Jason Reynolds inspires and encourages his audience through the telling of a personal story and the repetition of similar sounds to share the importance of being there for others while still striving to be their best. Jason Reynolds tells a personal story in order to catch the interest of his audience. He tells the story of a high school teacher who taught him that “sometimes doing the right thing has consequences” through the use of a fish. Reynolds tells this story in order to keep the audience invested in his speech and the lesson he was trying to teach. Similarly, while finishing his story, he says that he and the others in his class had to “sit through