Understanding Rhetoric

Unpacking how effective communication really works

When you hear “rhetoric” what do you think?

• False• Misleading• Style over substance

Accusations of politicians that what they say is nothing but “rhetoric.”

These pejorative descriptions are not an accurate reflection of what true rhetoric IS.

What RHETORIC really is…

• Speakers, writers, and readers rely on rhetoric daily: It is…

• The art of using PERSUASION through writing/speaking.

• Finding all available means to deliver a point with meaning, purpose & effect.

• The art humans use to PROCESS all messages we receive.

True Rhetoric

• Searches for methods to persuade because the RHETOR* has something valuable to say, something that arises from his/her position as an honest, inquiring, ethical person and his/her exigence. Think: MLK

• *Rhetor = speaker/writer

Rhetoric is a “good person speaking well.”

-Quintilian*

**

*Despite the funky Roman haircut, ol’ Q opened a first century school of rhetoric and oratary in Rome . He knew his stuff and wrote a 12-volume work on rhetorical theory and oratory. He was kind of a big deal back then.

The Rhetorical Transaction

What do we mean by TRANSACTION?

Rhetorical Choices…• What decisions do authors make respective to their purpose and

audience?

• Why did an author choose this detail as support and not that one?

• Why did the author include this idea first, that one last?

• Why did the author choose this sentence structure or word choice?

• What is the author appealing to in his audience by wording this way or by including that detail?

• Why has the author organized the piece like this—to what end?

• SO WHAT???? (Yup, that dreaded question… it doesn’t EVER go away).

Take Dillard…

Why begin with dead bugs in a bathroom?

Why an “immolating monk”?

Why include the students, the cat?

Why “broadaxe”?

Why end with candles and houseguests?

Now… think and write

• Write a brief hypothetical Facebook post or Tweet based on one of the following topics.

• 1. A recent music or movie-going experience

• 2. A travel experience• 3. A reaction or anticipation about a new

product • 4. Senior Year• 5. A compelling current event or issue.

Tweets & Statuses

• Should you friend your mom on FB?• Should you try to friend your teachers after

you graduate? (Do they REALLY need to see your first-year college exploits?)

• What do you post about?• What gets a reaction? What makes a “good”

post?• What makes a post inappropriate?

• (If you aren’t thinking about these questions, maybe you should be…”) Rhetoric matters.

The RhetoricalTriangle

The Triangle IS AP Comp

• The elements of the triangle are marked by a quality of “all-at-once-ness.”

• Our job is to deconstruct the triangle and look at it piece by piece… but with the knowledge that ALL of it matters, ALL of the time.

The Six Keys of Rhetoric*

Persona – Audience Appeals – Subject – Context – Intention – Genre

* Not to be memorized – rather to be understood in terms of how authors makes choices relative to their specific purpose in a piece.

The Writer: Persona

• The “character” of the author discernible by the reader from the writer’s use of words, arrangement of ideas, and choice of details.

• It’s the artful voice, the “mask” writers wear to interact with readers.

• Created by tone/attitude, diction, syntax, images, logic and emotion.

Consider McCann & Didion

How do their personas differ?

The Audience: Appeals

• Appeals to ethics, emotions, and logic create a link between the speaker and the audience.

• Logos—clear, reasonable ideas with logical support, details, examples

• Ethos—proof that the rhetor is credible, knowledgeable AND has the reader’s best interest at heart

• Pathos—draws on emotions/interests/values to create sympathy with an argument

APPLY: You need to sell a newly designed backpack…

Create an advertising concept that includes appeals to logos, pathos, & ethos.

The Subject (& its treatment)

• Must be presented so as to be clear, logical

• Be open to at least two paths of thought• Must capitalize on what the audience

already knows• Must pique curiosity in the audience AND

satisfy that curiosity with new substance• Rely on Claim(s) plus support & reasoning• Derive from a large pool of material (more

than is needed)

Persona – Audience - Subject

All these elements influence each other. ALWAYS.

Consider: How would a pro-gun rights speech to members

of the NRA differ from a pro-gun rights speech to parents of children at Newtown.

(How would a speaker adjust his/her persona to fit each group and still be sincere?)

Context

• No rhetorical transaction takes place in a vacuum.

• Time and place inform how a rhetor understands and adjusts for the transaction.

• Historical events vs. current events• Wider cultural context

Consider…The following subject/context

relationships:

Race:1963 March on Washington vs. Trayvon Martin

Safety and Travel:Pre / Post 9/11

Intention: Aim & Purpose

• Purpose = what the rhetor wants the audience to think, know, do, and feel as a result of his/her rhetorical choices.

• Rhetors may know purpose from the start or it may become clear as text evolves.(A policy speech vs. an exploratory essay)

• 4 aims for writing: expressive, informative, persuasive, literary (AP Lit)

In short…

Purpose = Verb + Explanation

An action with clear reasons as to why the audience should act or think in

certain ways.

Genre

The form the rhetor chooses that will best address the context and intention.

Letter to editor, speech, essay (forward moving or 5-paragraph), poem, poster, tweet, text message…

Weekly Writing #3

Use all you’ve just learned about how rhetoric works. Compose a piece that addresses/responds to a current event with a clear purpose, for an intended audience, drawing on specific conditions of the context, with an appropriate persona, utilizing the best genre to convey your good thoughts, written well. Piece o’ cake…