Introduction to Rhetoric

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Introduction to Rhetoric

• Rhetoric Rocks!
• Why we love rhetoric!
• Rhetoricits everything!

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Why Study Rhetoric?

• If you interact with humanity at all, you use
  rhetoric.
• If you care about issues that face our world, you
  use rhetoric.
• If you use language to persuade someone, you use
  rhetoric.
• If you have ever wanted or needed to be heard,
  you use rhetoric.

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Definitions of Rhetoric

• Rhetoric refers to two things
• The art of analyzing all the language choices
  that writer, speaker, reader or listener might
  make in a given situation so that they become
  meaningful, purposeful, and effective
• The specific features of texts, written or
  spoken, that cause them to be meaningful,
  purposeful, and effective for readers or
  listeners in a given situation.
• Joliffe, David. Everyday Use Rhetoric at Work in
  Reading and Writing. New York Pearson, 2007, 4.

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Think of Rhetoric like the Force

• Allegorystory in which all elements are symbolic
  
• Forcerhetoric
• JedisCollege Writers
• PadawansEnglish 11 students
• YodaAristotle (ancient Greek philopher)
• Obiwan Mr. Walsh
• Jungle on Degobathis class
• Jedi in Training

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3 types of rhetorical appeals

• ETHOS
• LOGOS
• PATHOS

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Logos

• LogosRational Appeals
• facts
• case studies
• statistics
• experiments
• logical reasoning
• analogies
• anecdotes
• authority voices

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Pathos

• Emotional Appeals (pathos) facts
• appeal to beliefs and feelingshigher emotions
• belief in fairness
• love
• pity
• etc.
• lower emotions (greed, lust, revenge, fear,
  power, etc.)

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Ethos

• Ethos-Reputation of the speaker
• trustworthiness
• credibility
• reliability
• expert testimony
• reliable sources
• fairness

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Rhetorical Triangle Copy this chart nice and big
on a fresh page of your WNB
Context
Purpose
Context
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Elements of a Rhetorical Situation

• Subjectwhat is the writing about? What is the
  purpose?
• Writer-Who is writing?
• Reader-Who is the intended audience?
• Purpose-Why is the writer communicating with the
  reader?
• Context-what is the occasion for the writing?
  What social, historical, institutional, or
  cultural forces might influence the ways the
  writer communicates with the reader? What
  conventions of form and style are appropriate for
  this subject and audience?

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Rhetorical Analysis

• Applying the rhetorical triangle to a piece of
  writing
• Multiple answers help us to arrive at the best
  answer
• Make inferences based on the text about
  information that is not directly given
• We want to move from good to better to best

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Subject

• Subjectwhat is the writing about? What is the
  purpose?
• Go beyond the topic of the piece
• Be specific.
• Subjects are not topics like schools,
  censorship, etc. Consider using preposition
  phrases to become more specific.

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WriterAbout the author?

• More than just a NAME
• Background
• Education
• Interests and abilities
• Profession
• Place of publication
• Think a person who

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Reader/Audience Who is the intended audience?

• Venue of publication
• Level of the language
• Interests of the audience
• Socio-economic demographic information
• Think People who
• NOT EVERYONE, NEVER EVERYONE

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Contextwhat is the occasion for the writing?

• What social, historical, institutional, or
  cultural forces might influence the ways the
  writer communicates with the reader?
• Think of forces outside the text that influence
  BOTH the reading and writing of the text.
• What conventions of form and style are
  appropriate for this subject and audience?

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A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of
Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to
Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them
Beneficial to the Publick

• by Jonathan Swift
• 1667-1745
• .

Jonathon Swift is the author of Gullivers
Travels.
He published A Modest Proposal anonymously in
Ireland in 1729.
In this proposal Swift suggests a solution for
how to deal with all the children living in
extreme poverty in Ireland at that time.
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A Modest ProposalReflective responses

• In your WNB
• Infer what were the social conditions in Ireland
  that occasioned the writing of Swifts essay?
  Causes?
• Infer who was his target audience?
• At what point in the essay did you recognize that
  Swifts proposal is meant to be satiric? What
  persona does he adopt?
• What is Swifts purpose?

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SOAPStone

• S subject
• O occasion (context)
• A audience
• P purpose
• S speaker
• tone tone ?
•  

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How SOAPStone works

• Subject ? students identify the topic of the
  piece
• Occasion ? students identify the time/place of
  the
• piece and/or the current situation
• Audience ? students identify the group of readers
• to whom this piece is directed
• Purpose ? students identify the authors
  reason(s)
• for writing the piece
• Speaker ? students identify characteristics of
  the
• author of the piece
• tone ? students identify the authors tone
• in the piece

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Rhetorical Triangle
Context
Purpose
Context
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Kill The Poor by Dead Kennedys

• Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band
  formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The
  band became part of the American hardcore punk
  movement of the early 1980s.
• "Kill the Poor" was the third single by the Dead
  Kennedys.
• Released in October 1980 on Cherry Red Records
• Re-recorded for the band's first album, Fresh
  Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980), although the
  single and album versions show little difference
  in comparison