Analysis essay
The AP Lang exam is coming up on Wednesday, and I'm not really stressed out except for the analysis essay (and the synthesis essay, but not as much). I feel like I'm just rambling on about a whole bunch of nothing whenever I write one. Just lots of yapping. I need some advice on how to fix this. I've pasted my final analysis practice below related to a speech from Michelle Obama. Would this be a passing essay? I want honest critique. I really want to try to get at least a 4 on this exam.
Michelle Obama is the wife of Barack Obama, and she served as First Lady of the United States from 2009-2017. During that time, she help lead programs involving encouraging students to continue their education after high school. On January 6th, 2017, Obama's last speech was directed towards those young people in high school or those who have just started college as encouragement to help them pursue their educational dreams. In Michelle Obama's final speech on January 6th, 2017, she encourages the audience with many motivational thoughts & life stories and gives the audience advice to help them overcome difficult hurdles they may be facing in life in order to convey her message that you shouldn't give up on your future.
Michelle Obama encourages the audience with her motivational thoughts and life stories. In lines 15-18, she says, "But with a lot of hard work and a good education, anything is possible -- even becoming President. That's what the American Dream is all about." With this phrase, she is encouraging her audience of young adults/teenagers. Encouraging the young college students with a personal anecdote helps to give them the confidence to keep moving forward instead of giving up because it seems too difficult. If they don't give up, but rather keep pushing forward, it can result in them accomplishing their dreams, no matter how massive it may seem. In lines 60-62, Obama says, "...the belief that something better is always possible if you're willing to work for it and fight for it." In this sentence, she is encouraging her audience to work hard in order to pursue their dreams. She's essentially saying that if you put your mind to something, anything is possible. If your life seems difficult, work hard to make it less difficult. You can always better yourself with the right mindset.
Obama doesn't just encourage her audience using motivational phrases, she also gives her audience advice to help them overcome all the difficult hurdles they may be facing. Many young adults can find settling into adulthood difficult, especially when they first enter college. It's a whole new environment that they've never seen before, and the chances are they have lost all of their childhood friends. It isn't easy, but Obama helps give them advice to make things easier. In lines 35-41, Obama says the following; "But I also want to be very clear: This right isn't just handed to you. No, this right has to be earned every single day. You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms. And that starts right now, when you're young." The "right" she is speaking about is the right to be "exactly who you are". She's saying that if you want to be seen by others as a hard-working American citizen, you can't just sit around and expect people to look at you that way. You have to put in the effort to gain the respect and trust of others, which is crucial advice for a young student looking to enter the college world. It's a "treat people how you want to be treated" kind of world, so make the right choices. At the very end of her speech, in lines 84-87, she says, "Because that is what moves this country forward every single day -- our hope for the future and the hard work that hope inspires." Obama is giving the audience a look into their parent's/other adult's POV. She is saying that all of them have hope that the younger generation can grow up and lead the country one day. She has hope that young people will go to college and pursue their dream job, especially if the parent wasn't able to do so when they were younger. Obama believes that all young people should stay in school and further their education in college because their parents are looking upon them with pride and hope that they can do great things in the future.
In the end, Michelle Obama's final speech is one from the heart; one directed towards the youth of today's world, whether they're seniors in high school or people in college that are thinking about giving up because it's too hard. She successfully utilizes multiple rhetorical choices in her speech to get her message across; never give up. Pursue your dreams and be excellent.