What is Rhetoric?

1. What is Rhetoric? APLAC Intro 2010-2011

2. Rhetoric is: “The faculty of finding all the available means of persuasion in a particular case” -Aristotle

3. “Faculty” = an improvable art “Finding” does not necessarily mean using “Available means” = EVERYTHING a writer/speaker might do with language “Persuasion” = the writer’s/speaker’s aim to shape people’s thoughts and actions “Particular case” = rhetoric capitalizes on specific situations

4. TO SUM IT UP: Rhetoric is the art of being a critical reader in order to find the ways that a writer or speaker uses languageto shape people’s thoughts and actions in a given situation.

5. What is Reading Critically?? • Reading critically is searching for EVERYTHING the writer does in order to be persuasive in a given situation and striving to understand the impact these items have on the situation. • The place to start is with the situation.

6. The Situation Exigence • Something sticking in the craw of the writer or speaker that needs speaking or writing about • What does the speaker/writer hope the audience will DO with the material presented. Speaker • What we know about the speaker/writer and their personal situation must be considered in order to fully understand the use of rhetorical techniques • We must be certain that we consider ALL audiences. Most situations have both a primary and secondary audience in mind. Audience Purpose

7. EVERYTHING a writer may do with language… • The rhetorical appeals • Choices made by the writer/speaker • Parts of the text that work together to achieve meaning, purpose, and effect • Pathos • Ethos • Logos • Organization • Tone • Schemes • Tropes

8. The Rhetorical Appeals • Logos: Logical • The embodied thought of the text • ALL texts use logic • Enthymemes • Syllogisms • Pathos: Emotional • Tugging at the heart strings of your reader • Ethos: Credibility • Speaker/ Writer uses their authority or knowledge base • Use of research can substitute for a lack of ethos

9. TONE • Writer or speaker’s apparent attitude toward the subject matter and/or issue • Tone is established in the nuances of a text • You infer the tone by examining the arrangement and style of a text—diction, syntax, imagery, figurative language, etc. • Claims about the tone are an argument (created by you) which MUST be supported by evidence from the text.

10. ORGANIZATION • Arrangement, Organization, Structure—the way the text is set up. • How can the text be divided into parts? • What is the function of each part? • How are they the same? • How are they different? • Do they show progression? • Do they digress? • Is it logical? Illogical? • In all cases, we ask “SO WHAT”?

11. Tropes and Schemes Tropes = Diction • Rhetorical techniques/strategies which impact the meaning of the words used. >Alliteration >Metonymy >Repetition >Aphorism >Oxymoron >Simile >Euphemism >Parable>Synecdoche >Hyperbole >Paradox >Irony >Personification >Metaphor >Pun • Rhetorical techniques/strategies which keep the traditional meaning of the words, but change, instead, the arrangement and structure. >Alliteration >Parallelism >Anaphora >Polysyndeton >Asyndeton >Onomatopoeia >Chiasmus Schemes = Syntax

12. Things to Determine • What the text means • What are the primary and secondary purposes • What effect the author intended • Why the author was compelled to write • Who are the primary and secondary audiences • HOW ARE THESE THINGS CREATED?? (The answer to this is your analysis!)

13. The Rhetorical Framework EXIGENCE RHETORICAL SITUATION AUDIENCE PURPOSE LOGOS APPEALS ETHOS PATHOS ORGANIZATION/STRUCTURE/FORM FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE DICTION SYNTAX IMAGERY SURFACE FEATURES