Speech

Le Guin might be better known for her amazing sci-fi novels, but in this particular example, she wrote this piece to be spoken. Out loud. To a room full of excited people.

That's no easy feat.

Sometimes speeches are better understood when you read them, because they might contain long sentences that are hard to follow for those of us with short attention spa—oooh! a new Instagram notification!

What were we saying?

Oh right—that's not the case with this one. Sure, you can glean more depth of information when you read it and break it down piece-by-piece, but it's pretty evident that she meant for the delivery to be of the oral persuasion. She uses short, simply structured sentences that get her point across in a succinct and straightforward manner. She asks questions of her audience, and you can tell she wants to get them thinking as they listen to her. In fact, it almost sounds like a sermon: it's (relatively) short, full of metaphors, and really makes you think.

So, her Left-Handed Address could've been an essay, sure, but it doesn't really fit that format. There isn't a clear intro, three body paragraphs, and then a conclusion (like a typical essay would have.) It almost does, but it's more fluid, allowing her to take her audience on a journey with her, while speaking the language of women.

How it Breaks Down

Hi. Thanks for Letting Me Talk.

In this genius intro, Le Guin not only expresses her gratitude for being given the opportunity to speak, but flawlessly segues into her main point: up until then, almost everything honored in American society was created and enjoyed by men. The language most often spoken in public, the world of academia, and the definition of success had all been defined by the patriarchy.

Men…Right? (Cue Sitcom Laugh Track)

In the meaty part of her speech, Le Guin addresses all the ways in which men and women differ—and we're not talking anatomy here. She argues that the definition of success, the way they communicate, and their sense of priority vary greatly between the two genders, and it's high time that the women were allowed to advertise their own perspectives, in their own terms, alongside the men's.

Mic Drop

To bring this speech to a powerful end, Le Guin states what her hopes are for all the women graduating on that day. This is a pretty typical gesture for a commencement address, but the way she does it is unconventional in the way that she expresses her hopes for them: she's not saying "Go forth! Get high-paying jobs! Use the wisdom you've acquired here!"

No, she's saying that she hopes they go on to do what makes them happy…and that they better get paid while they're doing it.