...Hui Xi 01/12/2012 Individual Rhetor’s Responsibility to Society In a society, rhetors play an important role. They use the art of persuasion to change people’s moods, emotions, and behaviors. Their art, the art of rhetoric, is a great power to “drives our social lives.” (Heinrichs 4) and move our society forward. Because of this supreme power, rhetors do have responsibilities; they should be honest, and not be hypocritical, but they also can’t be restricted by the social consensus. Since rhetoric is the art of influence,” (Heinrichs 4) rhetors who can’t undertake their responsibilities well, will mislead people and then our society will not be better functioned. A rhetor, who might be a politician, a reporter or even a social citizen, should be basically honest. There is no doubt that using rhetoric for persuasion is a skillful thing. But it still doesn’t mean that rhetors should use tricks to deceive people. Because sometimes a rhetor’s misleading persuasion can damage others’ lives. There are different rhetors in the movie Thank You for Smoking. They use different ways persuading people to believe their words. The most impressive one is called Nick Naylor. He is a spokesperson for the tobacco company and he uses twisting arguments to draw other people’s attention. Everyday he not only persuade people to smoke, but also use different words to deal with the protests from anti tobacco group, environmental group and scientific group in order to earn interest...
Words: 1003 - Pages: 5
...The goal of any given article is to persuade the audience, therefore it is necessary to put the audience in the appropriate emotional state. The use of pathos is seen almost immediately in this medium of work. James Gross, a psychology professor at Stanford University is quoted in the first paragraph of the article. He is concerned that his daughter, a thirteen year who loves math and science, won't pursue her passions once she realizes that science is a male dominated field. He believes that “as time goes on, she’ll feel increasingly lonely as a girl who is interested in math and science”. The rhetor uses this anecdote as a way to emotionally appeal to her intended audience. The worry and distress that this father feels for his daughter is meant to connect with others who may have young...
Words: 1219 - Pages: 5
...recognize them? A rhetorical situation can happen in anything from an argument with a friend to something on a much larger scale like a presidential campaign speech. We see small rhetorical situations in commercials and even magazine and billboard adds. Rhetorical situations can be complicated so it is important for us to know how to properly analyze an argument but first we need to know what they are. Keith Grant-Davie defines a rhetorical situation as “a situation where a speaker or writer sees a need to change reality and sees that the change may be effected through rhetorical discourse.” (105). This definition is a little tricky but he later goes on to explain that within a rhetorical situation he finds four constituents: exigence, rhetors, audiences, and constraints (106). The Winter Park Florida advertisement book written by the WP Chamber of Commerce, is a great example to see how the four constituents can be used in an advertisement to create a well-made argument that attracts an audience. The first constituent, exigence, isn’t too difficult to determine in this piece. In the essay, “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents, Keith Grant-Davie defined exigence as “some kind of need or problem that can be addressed and solved through rhetorical discourse” (105). In otherwords it is the issue or challenge in an argument. The goal. In this brochure the exigence is quite clear, to get people to move to or visit Winter Park. When attempting to find the exigence in a...
Words: 919 - Pages: 4
...Discourse Community According to the Linguist John Swales, a discourse community is “a group that has goals or purposes, and uses communication to achieve these goals.” One example of a discourse community is the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County. The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County is a non-profit organization that cares for over 6,000 animals each year. The Humane Society has numerous goals and ambitions, but one strong mission. The mission is to assure a better life for companion animals by providing shelter, finding loving homes and promoting respect for their place in our lives. The discourse community of the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County uses both written text and graphics to communicate between its rhetors and readers. The Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County has been living out its mission and goals since it was founded in 1933. One of its main goals, which is continuously being fulfilled by the members in its discourse community, is to place adoptable animals in “forever homes.” Their goals are to serve the people and animals of Memphis and surrounding areas by providing several services, such as low cost spay and neuter programs, humane sheltering for lost, abandoned and neglected pets, return of lost pets to families, humane education, pet therapy services, strengthening the human-animal bond, providing disaster preparedness, and adoption services. The community and its members are made aware of these programs and services...
Words: 1732 - Pages: 7
...A VERY INCOMPLETE GLOSSARY OF TERMS Rhetoric: All of the methods by which meanings are communicated Rhetor: The source of the communication—writer, speaker, filmmaker, photographer, etc. Euphemism: An alternative word choice that alters (usually softens) the rhetorical effect (“die” vs. “pass away” vs. “in a better place”). Different choices of language signal different implications and underlying philosophies. Euphemisms tend to distance the audience from the subject, using more vague and imprecise language (“collateral damage” vs. “unintended killings,” “got the better end of the deal,” vs. “swindled the other guy”). Paraphrase: An alternative phrasing of an author’s original language. Don’t paraphrase simply to pretend an author’s arguments or content are your ideas, or to avoid accusations of plagiarism. Instead, paraphrase in order to reveal something that wasn’t obvious in the author’s original words. Effective paraphrases make the implicit explicit (“What she’s saying here is...”) Always give credit to your sources, even when you paraphrase. Summary: Similar to paraphrase (in that you choose your own words to describe an author’s argument), except in a summary, you compress large portions of text into a much smaller space. You’ll need to choose specific things to focus on in a summary. You aren’t trying to restate every claim and every piece of evidence. Instead, choose smaller parts of the text that are relevant to your work and explain how you want your reader...
Words: 1328 - Pages: 6
...because her husband doesn't return home and she loves her husband so she wonders to know the truth. My text’s purpose is to help her to know the truth and my text’s message is to claim that her husband is not having an affair, indeed, her husband is busy with his job even though he covers his true identity to his wife. My rhetor is the detective, Daniel Edward. Mrs. Chanler is his clients, and the relationships only in connections of work. My rhetor writes down diaries to help him record the details and then analyze while he’s investigating. About the letter he writes, that is for his client, Mrs. Chanler. For the diary, it doesn’t have specific formal and stylistic because the audience is usually himself. The rhetor can write whatever he wants to write in his diary. Usually, the fixed things in diaries are date and time. My rhetor uses diary to help him memorize details of investigation and somehow help him analyze things, so my rhetor even uses pictures in his diary. For the letter that he writes for his clients, the tone is official authoritative, polite and formal. The format of letter usually includes name, address, date and text. The reason my rhetor uses letter is that letter is a effective way to inform something. When things are hard to say face to face, letter is a best choice to write. This look formal and official. For this RIP project, I conceive the story first. I want it to fit the theme noir, so I made up a dark and suspenseful story. This story took place...
Words: 682 - Pages: 3
...advertisement presents plenty of issues, which will be discussed throughout this analysis. The rhetor of this advertisement is the company Wonderbra. The purpose, or goal that the Wonderbra company had was to make it seem to the audience that it is okay to be basically a trophy wife and not do anything around the house if you look like this, and if you have this bra that this company makes then you will look like this and not have to worry about a thing. The intended audience for this advertisement is women that are mid to late thirties, like the woman in the picture, or also it could be guided towards men. If men saw this advertisement they would think that they need a wife or woman that looks like that and they will be more willing to buy them this wonderful bra as long as they will look like this when they wear it. The men could also think that if they had this woman, that they would basically be a bimbo and not even know how to cook, but it doesn’t matter because they look they way they do. The extended audience is the audience that is affected by the discourse, and in this advertisement the extended audience would be the women that are in the same age group as the woman in the picture, mid to late thirties, that do not happen to look like this. The rhetor uses many message strategies in this advertisement. The three message strategies that are used are egos, pathos, and also logos. The rhetor uses ethos because the definition of ethos is talking about...
Words: 867 - Pages: 4
...Taking Political Power Back For the People of America Context Described In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections. It was a split decision (five to four). The argument in favor of the decision is that the government has no right regulating political speech. Those who oppose the decision believe that allowing corporations to endorse candidate elections would degrade democracy. Traditionally, we have been a nation based on a democracy of individual voices however; this ruling may change that creating a nation influenced by corporate spending. Some members of the nation support this change but others are fearful of it (New York Times, 2010). Message Described Whether in support of this change or fearful of it, the decision affects everyone. The video is from the website FreeSpeechForPeople.org. It is entitled “What Did the $upreme Court Do to Our Democracy?” It is in response to the Supreme Court ruling that private for profit corporations are citizens with political rights and takes a position that opposes the ruling. The audience of the message is the people of America who are competent in political issues. The video is composed of interviews of common people on Capital Mall, clips of Senators who oppose the decision, a comedian using sarcastic satire making fun of the decision, and a narrator with an informative style combining these elements. The main argument of this video...
Words: 1616 - Pages: 7
...Journal #3 A rhetorical situation has four constituents that are valuable to a discussion. Of these are the rhetors, exigence, audience, and constraints. The two most important elements of a rhetorical situation are the rhetors and the constraints. Without these there wouldn't be a conversation. In order for a conversation to take place, there needs to be exigence. Rhetorical exigence is defined as “the rhetor’s sense that a situation both calls for a discourse and might be resolved by discourse” (Grant-Davie 206). The exigence is what sparks the discussion on a topic. Something must have occurred to motivate a conversation that may resolve or start a debate. Exigence is tied together with the discourse, “what the discourse is about becomes…a...
Words: 353 - Pages: 2
...Brianna Hicks Debbie Weaver ENC 1102- Section BW64 07.15.15 Discourse is in the Stars I am one of those people that looks to the stars for answers. I crave my daily horoscope and knowing where my moon and star align. I love knowing who or what I would be based on the characteristics of my zodiac sign. One of my favorite zodiac blogs is zodiac signs by Crystal Melbourne, a professional astrologer. I look at her Tumblr blog daily and sometimes multiple times during the day. It wasn’t until two weeks ago when I joined this class that I thought about how it can be categorized as a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of people that share a set of beliefs and understandings. In this essay, that we all as a class are required to write, I will be dissecting the different parts of this Tumblr blog that make it a discourse community. Before going too far into the rhetorical situation of this blog, I will give a little bit of background for those newbies out there who have no clue what astrology or a horoscope is. I will also give you some of the important language that will be found throughout this essay. First off, astrology is the study of the positions and relationships of the sun, moon, stars, and planets in order to judge their influence on human actions. A horoscope is a diagram of the heavens, showing the relative position of planets and the signs of the zodiac, for use in calculating births, foretelling events in a person’s life, etc. Zodiac is an imaginary...
Words: 1552 - Pages: 7
...Rather than including impractical information, rhetors include specific details and use certain styles in order to achieve their purpose. Within the excerpt from Tim O’Brien’s “On the Rainy River”, the author communicates his internal conflictions about the war. The rhetor of this excerpt uses both syntax and imagery in order to justify his decision and earn ethical acceptance from the audience. O’Brien includes imagery as a method to support and propel his purpose. The audience has perceived O’Brien as a wimp for considering fleeing to Canada to avoid the war, but his use of imagery proves just how appealing Canada is. As O’Brien gazes across the shoreline, he describes, “I could see tiny red berries on the bushes. I could see a squirrel...
Words: 583 - Pages: 3
...Dr. Katherine Heenan English 472 Spring 2007 February 20, 2007 Aristotle’s Life and the Rhetoric Books I and II Aristotle (384-322 BCE) • Aristotle was a student of Plato’s who disagreed with his mentor over the place of public speaking in Athenian life • born in Macedonia about the time Plato was opening the Academy in Athens • age seven went to Athens and entered the Academy--stayed on as teacher; left 20 yrs later on Plato’s death in 347 • Was ineligible to inherit Academy because he wasn’t Athenian • believed only scientific demonstration and the analysis of formal logic could arrive at transcendent truth • Dialectic and rhetoric form 2 major divisions in his view of human inquiry but they deal with subjects on which true knowledge isn’t available • Rhetoric: making persuasion possible • for Aristotle, rhetoric as the discovery in each case of the available means of persuasion--this discovery requires scientific investigation o in terms of speech situations, he focused on civic affairs • forensic speaking considers guilt or innocence—judicial speech centering on accusation and defense • deliberative speaking considers future policy—political speech centering on future policy • epideictic speaking considers praise and blame—ceremonial speech ▪ Aristotle classified rhetoric as the counterpart of dialectic o dialectic is on-on-one conversation; rhetoric is one...
Words: 3666 - Pages: 15
...she was willing to murder the trapeze artists in an instance. Had she been wanting to murder them, but she needed a scapegoat? Is she cold hearted? It may never be known. In addition, there was not an abundance of thought for the minor characters because they portray no complex nature. For example, Luke is simply an African-American who choreographs for a living, Tyler is simply an overly-pretentious man who holds his profession to the highest regard because hardly anyone else does, and Thomas is a one or two-line character, and Mr. Travis is a deceitful man who only cares about keeping successful. These characters are flat because they are only in the script for plot development. For this project, the rhetor could not be ourselves, therefore we had to create a rhetor. My rhetor was Hector Robles, and he is the one who wrote the screenplay. Although it is not stated anywhere in the script, this screenplay is Hector’s first attempt of creating a Noir film where his ultimate goal is to create a successful Neo-Noir film. He was inspired by the most notable Noir film, Double Indemnity. His inspiration was drawn after a weekend spent at Las Vegas with a group of friends after watching Cirque de Soleil’s LOVE show by The Beatles. Hector Robles is Arthur Molina in a different reality. The audience this work aim towards to is the adult audience. I did not want to have a general audience where if this script would then be adapted into a film it would receive a “G” rating, hence the vulgar...
Words: 1703 - Pages: 7
...receive approval. Key Terms Understanding these terms will help you craft a strong rhetorical analysis (we will read about these concepts and/or discuss them in class): * rhetorical situation * genre * the three rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos * organization/arrangement * identification * tone * diction * sentence structure figures of speech (e.g. metaphors, epistrophe) Writing the Analysis In a rhetorical analysis, the writer's purpose is to explain how the rhetorical strategies a rhetor (speaker/writer) uses enchance or hinder the effectiveness of the rhetor's communication given the rhetorical situation. * In your introduction, identify the basic components of the rhetorical situation crucial for understanding the effectiveness of the rhetor's communication. * In the body of your analysis, discuss and evaluate several rhetorical strategies the rhetor uses. Provide support from the...
Words: 489 - Pages: 2
...since Washington has delivered an Inaugural address. The purpose of this address is for presidents to present their vision of the country (United States) and to set forth their goals for the nation. With that being said, this paper will use the strategy of genre analysis to critique to examine Barack Obama’s second Inaugural Address and John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech. Genre analysis is a type of rhetorical analysis that examines speeches based on the artifacts or commonalities that contain. The artifacts of speech are created by the rhetor as a response to a specific exigency. So as Bitzer’s essay, The Rhetorical Situation, saw it, in order for a text to be rhetorical, it must come in response to a rhetorical situation. Furthermore a rhetorical situation has three characteristics, an audience, an existence of constraints, and as mentioned above, an exigency. One manner, in which we can analyze an artifact, is through...
Words: 1448 - Pages: 6
