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Oprah Winfrey's Commencement Address

During the graduation ceremony at Wellesley College, Oprah Winfrey addresses

the class of 1997 with a powerful message about the importance of finding purpose and meaning

in their lives. A commencement address is a speech delivered during a graduation ceremony to

affirm the student’s education and accomplishments. It is often given by an influential individual

or a distinguished figure in the community. Oprah Winfrey is a media personality star most

known as the host of the Oprah Winfrey show (Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul, and

Philanthropist). She was the first black woman to own her own production company and rose to

fame after being crowned Miss Black Tennessee in 1972. The commencement address was

initially intended for the graduates of Wellesley, their families, and the faculty in attendance.

However, given the widespread reach of the text through different platforms, the speech has

extended to a broader audience of young adults, journalists, and anyone seeking inspiration and

guidance. During the commencement, Winfrey congratulates the class and expresses her faith in

the students, advising them to always be themselves and not to look towards others to find their

path considering the fact that everyone has a different role in this life. Winfrey emphasizes the

importance of being grateful as the “universe is abundant” and will reward all with more than

they expect in the future. She employs a range of powerful rhetorical strategies such as Pathos,

Lagos, and Ethos to inspire and motivate graduates to embrace their unique paths and not be

afraid of pursuing their passions and dreams by using their education to make a positive impact

on the world.

During her speech, Winfrey uses pathos to appeal to the audience’s emotions and to

connect with the graduates. This can be seen when she shares her personal anecdotes and her

journey to becoming a well-known media mogul and philanthropist (Oprah Winfrey, Media
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Mogul, and Philanthropist). She describes her younger years as being faced with racism and the

expectations to fit the beauty standards. She recounts her news directors criticizing her physical

appearance and encouraging her to become someone who she’s not. For example, she was told

that her “hair was too thick or [her] eyes were too far apart” hinting at the need to have all her

black features changed. Therefore, with the use of vivid imagery she evokes a range of emotions

in the audience from anger to understanding, since common issues such as racism and injustice

were being dealt with similar to the wide issues faced today. Hence, she calls upon the

graduating class to use their voices to make a difference and their privilege as educated young

individuals to make a positive impact on the world. One of the most prevailing moments in her

speech was when she says, “you learn you are not Diana Ross and that you are not Barbara

Walters” elucidating that at the time Winfrey wanted to be someone else. Later on, she then

realized that we need to embrace ourselves to accept that we are different from others and

continue to make different choices. She also shares a poem by a friend and mentor, Maya

Angelo, known as the “Phenomenal Women” which hints at themes of womanhood, self-love,

and acceptance. The poem rejects the societal expectations of women to look a certain way and

breaks the stereotype associated with it. Instead, Angelo encourages empowerment and

becoming confident in your own skin. Thus, confirming Oprah Winfrey’s original point about

embracing oneself making it relevant. This emotional delivery of the poem demonstrates the

power of perseverance and determination, hence, evoking emotions such as hope and motivation

for the graduates as it gives a relatable and personal touch by alluding to another famous figure

in history.

Moreover, Oprah skillfully uses Logos appeal by relying heavily on logic and reason to

persuade the audience. She makes valid arguments regarding women who are subjected to men.
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For example, when she states a useful lesson about believing someone’s actions the first time

“particularly when it comes to men situations” especially “when he doesn’t call back the first

time, when you are mistreated the first time [and] when you see someone who shows you lack of

integrity or dishonesty the first time.” This advice challenges men’s innate superiority and

dominance since the earliest of times women have been subjected to being treated as weaker

individuals since they are frequently portrayed as victims who are easily preyed upon by men

thus acting as common sense allowing for the audience to be influenced easily. Furthermore, the

use of repetition when she states “the first time” allows the audience to accept the phrase as the

truth since it is being emphasized in her speech. Additionally, she states “I have learned that

failure is really God's way of saying, excuse me, you're moving in the wrong direction. It's just

an experience, just an experience.” This example shows that Winfrey utilizes logic as the

audience understands through deductive reasoning that mistakes only stipulate future lessons and

is an experience in itself since it is a common phrase used in society today. More specifically, for

religious individuals who believe that God has destined each person with a specific path.

However, it is essential to note that although Oprah Winfrey uses rationale to convince her

audience, her commencement address lacks the use of statistics and facts to provide evidence for

her statements. Thus, in terms of the effective use of logos, Winfrey has certain key elements by

relying on logic and common sense.

Further, in her speech, Oprah Winfrey makes a persuasive address through ethos appeal

where she appeals to people’s values and trust. This is subtle and seen through the stories she

shares of her past foretelling her experiences of becoming a famous talk show host after having

been taken off Baltimore as she was “no longer fit for television.” This is because she was

considered to be a passionate reporter who went “out on the stories and [her] own truth.” For
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example, she “would cry for the people in the stories.” Therefore, Winfrey used her own

experiences to establish her credibility as an influential person who has learned a lot over the

past decade being an effective reporter and then transitioning into finding her true purpose of

becoming a popular host on a talk show. Hence, she tries to portray that failure doesn’t always

mean that you lose hope but instead can open up new opportunities and paths to achieve ultimate

success. Additionally, Winfrey goes on to describe the 77,000 letters she received where she

intended to fulfill her supporter’s wildest dreams. For instance, “We paid off all the college debt,

hmmm, for a young woman whose mother had died, and she put her sisters and brothers through

school. We paid off all the bills for a woman who had been battered and managed to put herself

through college and her daughter through college.” This goes to show Oprah Winfrey’s selfless

character as she indirectly shows off her charitable work since she values her viewer's happiness

and tries her best to make a positive change in this world by encouraging her audience to have

big dreams. This is shown in the context of her speech as well as her tone of language. She

speaks with compassion and authenticity making her message more compelling.

I believe Winfrey successfully employs rhetorical strategies to convey a persuasive

message of finding oneself in the real world. By drawing on personal anecdotes appealing to

pathos, she creates an emotional response in the audience inspiring the graduates to find their

passion and use their unique individual voices. Furthermore, she achieves logos by relying on

common sense and rationale instead of statistics and facts to highlight the stereotypes associated

with men, thus, allowing the audience to logically deduce her advice about believing someone’s

character the first time. Lastly, Winfrey conveys her credibility by emphasizing her character and

personality by recounting her experiences being a reporter in Baltimore. Overall, Oprah’s

message is universal as it serves as a powerful example of an effective persuasive piece that can
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inspire and empower individuals of all ages and backgrounds to pursue their dreams and not be

afraid of failure.

Works Cited

“Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul and Philanthropist.” National Museum of African American

History and Culture, 15 Mar. 2017, https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/oprah-winfrey-media-

mogul-and-philanthropist Accessed 19 Mar. 2023. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.

Winfrey, Oprah. “Commencement Address.” Wellesley College, 2022,

www.wellesley.edu/events/commencement/archives/1997commencement/commencementaddres

s#:~:text=You%20will%20survive%20everything%20if,truth%20could%20set%20me%20free .

Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.