Analyzing "A Heart Worn on My Hand" - Free Paper Example

In “A Heart Worn on My Hand,” the speaker explains how softball, her favorite sport, has helped reveal her character and personality. She begins her speech by describing how she typically plays her softball. The most significant part of the softball is her softball glove, which saves her from physical harm and, most importantly, relates to her background and experiences that shape her personality. She explains the glove's features and describes how they connect to her personality. An excellent example is when she discusses her unique name scribbled permanently on the glove. She says that her unique name reflects her confidence to be herself despite her peers’ influence.

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The speech’s introductory part interested me a lot. She started by explaining how she plays softball and how the glove becomes significant to her as she plays. Here, she uses vivid description that helps me create a mental picture of how she is playing. For instance, when she says, “I grip my fingers along the red stitching of the leather softball,” I picture her gripping the ball ready to throw. The mental pictures help me have a background of how softball and the glove mean to the speaker; thus, her speech’s body becomes more relatable to me. More so, I think the introduction is captivating as it breaks away from the linear structure that can sometimes be monotonous. Another part that I liked was when she took out the gloves to demonstrate what she was saying. The practical demonstration saved her speech from being monotonous; thus, she fully captured my attention. I was eager to understand how this glove she mentioned in her introduction reflected her personality, and thankfully, the demonstration facilitated this effect.

I noticed that the speaker used some support material that we learned in class. For example, she “testimony” when she mentioned the famous basketball coach, John Wooden’s quote, "Sports do not build character, they reveal it.” As I learned in class, this quote is a testimony because Wooden is an expert in sports; thus, he is qualified to be quoted. Again, this example is a testimony because the speaker provided the quote’s owner's credentials by mentioning that he is a famous basketball coach.

Even though the speech was well done, it had some areas that needed improvement. First, the speaker executed zero stage movement by delivering the whole speech while standing at the same spot. A change of location could have improved her delivery by attracting the audience's attention and relaxing her nervousness. The second weakness was her eye contact which favored the classroom's right side a lot, probably sidelining the left side. Lastly, although the introduction was lit, it was not re-enacted using gestures and facial expressions, making its delivery completely flat.

The speaker needs to be careful about executing stage movement since too much can be distracting to the audience. I would recommend she start her movements immediately after the introduction to signal to the audience that she is beginning the main reason for her speech. In this case, the best movement will be stepping forward to show that she is about to say something important. I would also advise her to move sideways when transitioning from one point to another to avoid the audience confusing the points. For conclusions, she can step back to the position she was introducing her speech from to let the audience know that she is done. The most effective way for the speaker to make balanced eye contact with the audience is by assuming that she is speaking individually to every person in the room. Notably, it will make her want to connect with everyone; thus, she will strive to look at their faces to enact her ideas.

Conclusion

Lastly, the introductory part needed to be accompanied by gestures and facial expressions to make it blissful. Gestures would have done better in areas that indicate actions. For instance, in the part where she says, “As I throw my ball with all my strength…,” she would have demonstrated by throwing her hands in the air as if she is throwing something. Facial expressions should accompany emotional words such as pain and happiness. For example, she should have frowned to show discomfort in her first sentence, “The blistering sun beats on my forehead."