Juleanna Nunez

C. Bevill
ENGL 1302-11
May 8, 2015
Reflective Essay
In the duration of this sixteen week course, my writing was impacted
mostly by the speech analysis, this essay was the most influential because it
taught me how to better interpret what is being said and how the author or
speech giver tends for that message to be received by the audience and why
they chose that particular strategy. In this speech, in particular, the use of an
emotional appeal to audiences was used the most because the speech giver,
Elie Weisel, meant for his message to touch the audiences hearts, be
influential, and have an effect on his audience that would leave a lasting
impression.
Writing this paper showed me the best ways to dissect words and
phrases and how dramatically these words could be misinterpreted in
different ways with varying mediums of communication, such as; audial, and
textual. If one were to have only read the Perils of Indifference speech, the
message may not have as much of an effect as it would for someone who
has heard the speech as it was delivered.
The interpretation of a meaning is just as, if not more, important than
the message an author is trying to send. Imagine a world with no nouns, only
adjectives, one could go on and on about how vibrantly yellow the animal in

the water is, but, that could be interpreted as There is a yellow fish in the
water, or There is a yellow duck in the water, without giving us further
detail the one who made this claim has failed us as an audience. Just for your
closure, the intended message was duck in the water when I thought of this
example, the fish came second.
As my first boss told me, perception is reality. What those around you
perceive, either about you or about their surroundings, becomes their reality.
Notice the visual presented below, something as simple as a cylinder can be
presented as being both a circle, and as a
square depending solely on where the light is
directed, presented as an individuals point of
view. Interpretation, perception, point of view,
and understanding are all the same, different
people have different views all of the time, which can, and does, make it
more difficult for an author, or an illustrator, to get the exact same message
through to each and every personality their work is presented to.
Distorted perception can get you in very deep trouble. Imagine working
on whatever essay Mrs. Bevill has assigned, looking at your phone or making
the blackboard window small to change music, or just to take a break, and
then your parent walks in. Although, you know that you were working on that
essay or assignment for a good while before going over to entertainment,
unless you have cameras in your room, or work area, your parent does not

and you more likely than not end up probably getting patronized. I think that
has got to have happened to everyone, at least once, before.
In retrospect, the message you are trying to send to anyone is
ineffective if they cannot understand what you are saying. Be careful with
the words you chose and mean what you say, or write, in this matter, not
everyone can always, and completely, understand the way you think and
what you are trying to say. That is all.