The Effectiveness of Anna Quindlen's Commencement Address-1999

All graduation ceremonies are comprised of the handing out of diplomas and a commencement address that is usually done by an alumni of the school. The address add a unique opportunity to hear a renowned speaker and force the graduates, as well as the families and friends in attendance, to consider the thoughts they hold in regards to life; however, they are seldomly remembered for long.

In Anna Quindlen's commencement address that she gave at Mount Holyoke College in 1999, she stresses trying to go against the homogenization of society and be your own individual.  She implores that each member of the audience leave his or her backpack "full of bricks" behind and follow the "small voice from inside [him or her], that tells [him or her] to go another way".  This correlates to the characteristic of transcendentalism that stresses individualism and self-reliance.

I was assigned Anna Quindlen's commencement address to read and annotate, and I honestly was not a fan of it.  When watching a video of her giving the speech, her body language did not come across as very strong since she kept looking down at the words, hence her point did not project as greatly as it could have if she knew how her speech was supposed to go.  Also, she included a couple remarks that were supposed to be funny, however the audience and I didn't seem to think they were.  In addition, her metaphors could have been much more convincing.  Lastly, her closing statement, "Every day feels light as a feather," was simply powerless and did not wrap up her speech very well.  While her idea of not letting society's idea of perfection mold you into that type of person is significant, I felt as though her writing did not live up to the standards of the commencement addresses I have had the honor of hearing live, such as Sanjay Gupta's 2012 speech at the University of Michigan graduation this year.

To be honest, maybe in some cases it is a good thing that graduates usually don't recall the commencement addresses for long after they are given.  I'm sure the graduating class of 1999 from Mount Holyoke College doesn't treasure her speech because even after listening to it and reading it twice, I did not feel attached to what she was trying to say.  In the end, these addresses will only be memorable if: 1) something embarrassing or awkward happens during the speech, or 2) the speech impresses everyone in attendance because it has a combination of compelling, humorous, and sentimental characteristics.  If it does the latter, the graduates are much more apt to try to follow the ideas that the speaker presents, making for a commencement speech that actually does its job.