In speech class, we have been assigned to do a persuasive speech about any subject of our choice. The minimum time the speech has to be be is four minutes, and I'm afraid I might not have enough material for the topic I chose to last me the required time. I chose to do a persuasive speech about "Why Tolkien is the best author".
I'm hoping you won't be upset by me posting about this on here, but I wasn't quite sure what else to do. My dillema is this: I've only read The Hobbit, and the first part to "Lord of the Rings" [im at the beginning of the two towers], so my "tolkien" knowledge is limited. That coupled with the fact its been since the beginning of summer 2002 that I've read those books.
Some material I've come up with so far is this:
- Tolkien, unlike the vast majority of authors, developed specific languages for the various races residing in Middle-Earth. Usually when a story has invented languages within it, the author merely introduces a few words and translates them, not having developed a full language.
- He set up his own mythology/history of Middle-Earth, providing the origins of how the various races and the world came to be.
- The storyline of Lord of the Rings is so vast and epic that its chronicled in three lenghty novels with a combined number of pages that number roughly in the thousands [one of my friends said this to me]. Few novels with their storylines have reached such length.
- Instead of Lord of the Rings being overpacked with action like many books and being overly fast-paced, he actually takes the time to describe the surroundings in which the characters intereact with one another, evenly matching action with scenery.
- He isn' overly obsessed with symbolism and having each and every intricate detail of Middle-Earth stand for something in the real world. [I formed that opinion from what my math teacher, a major tolkien fan, said] For example, the One Ring doesn't necessarily represent power or evil simply because Sauron created it, and he instead leaves it to the reader to interpret such things as the Ring as they choose[this is what my math teacher said].
- He forever changed the way in which elves are viewed. He brought them from being small, mischievious pixies as commonly depicted in folklore and elevated them to a civilized people, standing tall and slender, and being of noble lineage.
- He put impressive detailing into his races and fleshing them out than what many writers do.
[the example I was planning to use for this was how he has divided elves into various types, you know wood elves, etc.]
- the movies based on his books have the highest quality special FX around, rivaled only by Star Wars [the prequels b/ CGI animation, etc.] Not to mentionthe talented actors.
.....And that's as far as I got with my speech. I figure depending on how fast or slow I talk, I might be able to barely get away with two and one-half minutes if I say my points in the exact same manner and wording as I used above. My trouble is finding specific details to support some of my claims [its been since the beginning of summer 2002 that I've read the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, so that surely hasn't helped].
Some further ideas I was considering was providing more material about the movie adaptations to my speech and use such ideas on the work he put into his characters and subplots and so forth. Another idea I have in mind is getting the figures of the income generated by the sales of his books and the movie.
So I guess what I am asking help with is coming up with more opinions w/ facts to support them. Also, please tell me what you think of my current material.
In regards to delivering my speech, I'm thinking about using the sentence "Several of you have read fantasy novels written by talented writers, but perhaps the one whom stands above them all is J.R.R. Tolkien" as my introdcution statement. Then I could put my copies of the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings and also the Silmarilion on display and incorporate them into my speech somehow. And then start in first with my claims referring specifically to the books and then focus on the current movie.
In the meantime, I'll ask around some of my friends whom are tolkien fans and get info from them to use.
I'm very truly sorry if I'm being a bother [I know I must seem like an idiot though, from my post]. :( I guess I definately should steer clear being a politician or public speaker when I grow up. Especially if my skills at organizing and performing a speech aren't great. *yikes!*
****Update******
Ah, success! I've been really pouring into research Tolkien and all related content, and I have to say it's going quite well. I plan on sticking with my current topic and am again sorry [aside from somewhat embaressed] at having wasted anyones time. I'll be sure to let you know how my speech goes after I give it in class.
Best regards,
Riewin_Eowylin
*****Update********
Hey I actually managed to make a speech about 4 min and 12 seconds long. Its of medium quality, but hey I got it done though!
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