(His speech is also available on Youtube “Bono: Harvard University Class Day
Address (2001)
(19 minutes)
(19 minutes)
1. What
does Bono tell the audience about
himself?
How does he appeal to their feelings? Do you think he successfully connects with this
particular audience? Notice the use of irony.
How does he appeal to their feelings? Do you think he successfully connects with this
particular audience? Notice the use of irony.
2. What
similarities does Bono find between his own life and that of the Harvard
students?
3. What
challenge do they all face, according to Bono?
4. ‘Pop is often the oxygen of politics’ (line 103).
Discuss, using other examples.
5. What is
Harvard University? Find out about its history, famous graduates and
reputation.
6. What is
Bono saying about (the difficulty of) idealism? Do you think he is reaching his
audience?
audience?
Hello Lise
ReplyDeleteI have sent you my answers on a mail as an attachment
best regards
Cecilie Jensen
Hi Cecilie
DeleteHopefully you have received my comments on your answers in a mail of 29 January:-)
Best regards
Lise
What does Bono tell the audience about himself?:
ReplyDeleteHe tells them that his name I Bono, and he is a rock star, a singer with a conscience. He is a songwriter, and he is a father and he talks too much when he is drunk.
How does he appeal to their feelings?:
He makes fun of himself. He asks questions they have likely asked themselves and he tells them about his own flaws and that makes him more human and less celebrity.
Do you think he successfully connects with this particular audience? Notice the use of irony:
I think he does. He uses irony and the audience is young people who, in general, enjoy irony and jokes.
What similarities does Bono find between his own life and that of the Harvard students?:
They all have potential and the opportunity to make things better and to create equality in the world.
What challenge do they all face, according to Bono?:
They have to follow through on their ideals.
Pop is often the oxygen of politics’ (line 103). Discuss, using other examples:
I have no idea what he means.
Stine Hagen
Many good and interestering answers.
DeleteAnother example of how he makes fun of himself is seen in lines 8 - 10:
a singer with a conscience in a Lexus (an expensive American car) + a swimming pool shaped like his own head.
Other similarities between Bono and the Harvard students:
Bono needs applause to be a success, the students need good grades to be a success.
Another challenge we all face according to Bono:
is to get a feeling of indifference, not feeling motivated (line 29, line 51). If we don't care about anything we can't move on.
Question # 4:
Pop is often the oxygen of politics (line 103) means:
Politicians can't survive without being popular among their voters (pop = popularity)
Another metaphor used by Bono is :
Holocaust (line 95) = today's third world population
Question # 5:
Harvard University is part of the Ivy League (together with Princeston and Yale). It was founded in 1639 in Cambridge, Massachusetts by John Harvard. Former graduates are for instance Obama, JF Kennedy, George Bush, Theo Roosevelt.
As to "idealism" Bono believes that most of us are idealists to some extent, but we are also affected so much by materialism and narcissism (line 110) that we are actually not ready to help the third world as much as we should.
I agree with you due to Bono's charisma he had no problems appealing to his audience.
I really hope you enjoyed doing this assignment:-)