The Wellesley Commencement Speech

Hillary’s Wellesley College commencement speech in the prologue represents a pivotal moment in Hillary's life and trajectory. Sittenfeld begins the novel with this speech as it will thrust Hillary into the public eye, and gain Hillary notoriety, especially when Life Magazine interviews her because of it. This symbol also represents the theme of service because Hillary is chosen to speak as the student body president, an unpaid leadership position in the college, and the speech Hillary ends up giving is a rebuttal to the Senator. She thinks, “I needed to start with a rebuttal, a generational rebuttal . . . Because I was the one who’d be standing at the podium, doing so was my obligation” (4). It also represents parallels to the real Hillary Rodham Clinton because this is a speech she gave that was covered by Life Magazine and Sittenfeld uses actual quotes...