Guest post by Danielle
Featured image by Natalya Syuzeva
Patti Smith, Pratt Institute Speech, 2010.
“Pinocchio went out into the world. He went on his road filled with good intentions, with a vision. He went ready to do all the things he dreamed, but he was pulled this way and that. He was distracted. He faltered. He made mistakes. But he kept on. Pinocchio, in the end, became himself — because the little flame inside him, no matter what crap he went through, would not be extinguished. We are all Pinocchio. And do you know what I found after several decades of life? We are Pinocchio over and over again — we achieve our goal, we become a level of ourselves, and then we want to go further. And we make new mistakes, and we have new hardships, but we prevail. We are human. We are alive. We have blood.”
What do you guys think? Do you see the elements of language common to speeches here?
Mexican Silver 
This is a brilliant extract Dani. It really is an eye opener, because it tells you exactly what humans do go through. The language used to portray the image of a puppet going out into the real world was good, because it did mension the stuggles that Pinocchio went through, making it seem as if he was a real person going through life. I do belive that the style in which the writter uses is very thought provoking, as it does make you feel as if you are Pinocchio. The writter uses a lot of short sentances, which makes the extract to the point and more interesting as there is no drawn out situations.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely extract. Something I saw that was common was repetition, I saw this in the last two lines, “we are” which helps emphasise that they are in it together and are all ‘human’. Also, the use of “we” in other parts which helps unite everyone or the audience with the speaker.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very good, Cameron!
LikeLike
I like this because it is exactly how people live. What I immediately noticed was the repetition of “we are” in the last 3 sentence. The “we” gives us the sense that the writer has also experienced it. It is very common to speeches because in some speeches the writer would be wanting to make us feel like the speech is directed to you, which is what the writer is doing here. Good extract Danii
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well expressed, Nosizwe!
LikeLike
Very inspiring article. I think that the speech int erms of language, is quite colloquial, in the sense that the speaker has used words like ”crap”, a slang term which implies that they were addressing either a adolescent- to- mid-twenties group or the audience is a loose collection of peole from different walks of life. The full-stops within phrases helps to achieve a ‘pause effect’ allowing the reader to visualise Pinocchio experience all the distractions life gave him. It might also be a motivational speech encouraging people to pick themselves up no matter the circumstances. Very good article Dani.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting point about the punctuation, Nobandile! So, you’re suggesting that the pause for the full stop creates a jerky rhythm? Like a puppet being jerked around on its strings?
LikeLike