Each THON committee meeting ends with a breif video to serve as inspiration for the week ahead. This week, we watched the following speech given to the graduating class of the University of Texas, Austin by US Navy Admiral, William H. McRaven. In his speech, Adm. McRaven makes use of pathos, ethos, and a strong delivery to make his points about accomplishing small goals to reach a larger one and standing one’s ground.
US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven speaking at UT Austin’s 2014 commencement. (0:01-1:46) Source
Adm. McRaven makes use of both pathos and ethos in his commencement speech. First, McRaven’s status as an admiral in the Navy elevates him to a position deserving of a high level of respect. It also shows that he’s worked hard throughout his life, likely moving up the ranks bit by bit until achieving the rank of admiral. This serves to add ethos to his claim that it is important to accomplish small goals because by doing so, one can accomplish a much larger goal.
In addition to his appeals to ethos, Adm. McRaven uses pathos in the form of humor to engage with his audience. For instance, by saying “And if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made,” McRaven creates a humorous appeal that still supports his overall message. His use of pathos here allows listeners to connect the bed-making scenario to life as a whole: even if you have one bad day, you can look back at the small things you achieved that made it worthwhile.
However, the content of the speech is not the only place where McRaven’s speech succeeds. The Admiral’s delivery, especially through his strong volume and measured rate of speech, help to cement his credibility and make his point for the graduates. If the Admiral had spoken quietly or too quickly, he would seem more nervous and thus weaker, which would go against his message of standing one’s ground and staying strong.
The one area that this speech faltered was in its organization. As a whole, the speech jumped from anecdote to anecdote, with each story not being strongly tied to any of the others. Although the last part of the speech is not included in the analyzed portion, the conclusion doesn’t bring the disjoint ideas together as strongly, and thus the speech suffers from not having one focused moral or point.
Despite this flaw, Adm. McRaven delivered a strong commencement speech, using pathos and ethos to aid in advancing his message to the graduates of UT Austin.