334 INTRODUCTORY SPEECHES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Fork in the Road
1 Inspirational speaker Liz Murray once said, a “fork in the road happens over a hundred
times a day, and the choices you make will determine the shape of your life.” At one point or
another, we all come to that fork in the road, when we are forced to choose between two paths,
not sure where either will lead. Our classmate Bethany is now at that point, forced to decide be-
tween her two passions: art and medicine.
2 From an early age, Bethany has been passionate about art. She has been drawing since
the age of three and has continued to improve her skills ever since. Over the years, she has won
many awards for her drawings, including the Wisconsin Scholastic Art Award.
3 Bethany draws people, places, and things that she sees on a daily basis in the world
around her. Drawing allows her to relax and to escape from the stress of life. And now, because
of her passion, she is considering making art her career.
4 In addition to art, however, Bethany is also passionate about medicine. She dreams about
one day doing medical mission work in Africa. She is motivated in part by her friend J.C., a
Rwanda refugee whose leg was severely injured in an explosion about ten years ago.
FORK IN THE ROAD 335
Fork in the Road
Commentary
Carefully developed and dynamically delivered, “Fork in the Road” is a speech introducing a classmate.
Using the idea of a fork in the road as her central theme, the speaker creatively shows how her class-
mate Bethany is facing a difficult life choice—something to which many college students can relate.
Video of the speech is available online and on the DVD of student speeches that accompanies this
edition of The Art of Public Speaking. Here is a brief synopsis.
Specific Purpose: To introduce my classmate Bethany to the audience.
Central Idea: Passionate about both art and medicine, Bethany confronts a fork in the road of her life.
Method of Organization: Topical
Introduction: This speaker uses a quotation to gain the audience’s attention and to establish the
speech’s central theme of coming to a fork in the road of life. By relating the quotation to Bethany
and her passion for art and medicine, the speaker reveals the subject of the speech and pre-
views the points she will discuss in the body.