Saunders 1

Brian Saunders
Dr. Rios
Enc 1102
June 18, 2014

Reflection Letter
The goal of this class, in my opinion, was to get the students to think about things in a
way which would allow them to form logical opinions which they could then lay out in a
reasonable way through their writing. Writing in a logical rhetorical context can be a very
important tool in a persons arsenal because if done correctly, rhetorical writing can be an
effective way of influencing the opinions of others which is also known as leadership. An
example of how I was influenced by this class was through the Bitzer and Vatz assignments
which point out how events can be interpreted in different ways. In "The Myth of the Rhetorical
Situation" Vatz writes "Bitzer argues that the nature of the context determines the rhetoric. But
one never runs out of context. One never runs out facts to describe a situation." To me this
situation simply means that for any given situation one will never be able to find an absolute
truth, or an end all, be all argument because it is not the situation itself that is important but
rather how the situation is perceived. I feel that by understanding both sides of the argument I
was able to lay out both sides of the power struggle over climate change in an orderly fashion
and show that there are in fact two opposing views of the issue which is the essence of why I
agree with Vatz's stance on the rhetorical situation. This class has helped me to understand the
importance of a well laid out argument because through the works we were assigned to read, I
have become more aware that there are two sides to every story and it is important to be able
Saunders 2



to tell your side of it in a reasonable and coherent way. Vatz writes, "The second step in
communicating "situations" is the translation of the chosen information into meaning. This is an
act of creativity. It is an interpretative act." I feel that this is a great quote and really exemplifies
the way in which I have learned how arguments are constructed. It shows that people will
chose to zero in on the parts of any story and highlight them in a way that best suits their own
needs.