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Rhetoric Analysis - Final Paper - Belew Nathan
Rhetoric Analysis - Final Paper - Belew Nathan
Nathan Belew
Justin Jory
English 1010
August 3, 2017
Rhetoric analysis
In this rhetoric analysis essay, youll find the study of two essays, Mike Rose Blue-
collar brilliance and Matthew Crawford Shopclass as Soulcraft. In Roses essay youll find his
main purpose is to break the biased assumption the higher intelligence tends to have on blue
collar workers. Their belief is that blue collars require no real bronze to perform their jobs. Mike
considered to be on the higher intelligence scale whom may not know what blue collar work is
like. With Matthew Crawfords essay, his main purpose he gets at in his essay is that people
should learn a manual labor trade to benefit themselves by increasing their capabilities. Crawford
posted his essay onto - thenewatlantis.com his audience ranges from professors, journalist,
Mike and Matthew both used similar rhetoric strategies to convey their main purpose to
their audience. Though they both may use the same strategies, the format of their strategies
creates a separate way of understanding their purposes. Mikes use of storytelling, description,
and imagery gave a base foundation to how he began viewing blue collar workers. Mikes use of
empirical evidence came from his studies of what he called Cognitive biographies giving his
audience a variety of observations he made on blue collar workers. Matthew approaches the use
of storytelling, description, and imagery with his own experiences creating a more personal
persona in his writings. From Matthews own experience and knowledge as a craftsman, he could
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go in more depth of how another craftsman may cherish their work with the use of invoking
audience by storytelling his mothers experience as a waitress. He talks about what she had to
adapt to on the job, The restaurant became the place where she studied human behavior,
puzzling over the problems of her regular customers and refining her ability to deal with people
in a difficult world. (Rose) This sentence gives a perspective of how she had to not only focus
on herself at work, but also how she had to adapt to handling various kinds of customers. This
contributed to Mikes main purpose by giving an example of how his mother had to study people
to meet their demands to overall achieve a successful customer satisfaction. The ongoing study
of her customers was something she had to develop in the work field, this is a skill trait not easily
Matthews essay Shopclass as Soulcraft gave an ideal picture to what working as a laborer was
like using the storytelling, description, and imagery rhetoric strategy. Socially, being the
proprietor of a bike shop in a small city gave me a feeling I never had before. I felt I had a place
in society. Whereas think tank is an answer that, at best, buys you a few seconds when
someone asks what you do, while you try to figure out what it is that you in fact do, with
motorcycle mechanic I got immediate recognition. I bartered services with machinists and
metal fabricators, which has a very different feel than transactions with money, and further
description, and imagery because the author describes the feelings he had as a worker in the
Think tank comparing it to how he feels now as an auto mechanic and the accomplishing
feeling he has being one. The author uses this strategy to show his audience that labors get
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recognition for their hard work. This instance gives clarity to the main purpose because knowing
an additional trade, increases your capabilities which adds value to you in other peoples eyes.
With Mikes Cognitive biographies (Rose) he could fluently use the empirical evidence strategy
to support his defense of blue collars. Though work-related actions become routine with
experience, they were learned at some point through observation, trial and error, and, often,
physical or verbal assistance from a co-worker or trainer. Ive frequently observed novices
talking to themselves as they take on a task, or shaking their head or hand as if to erase an
attempt before trying again. (Rose) The observations he makes in how blue collars develop their
skills and the various techniques they use to develop them creates his empirical evidence
strategy. Using the empirical evidence strategy gave the author credibility with his audience.
Where Mike began to deploy his empirical evidence in the essay, helped lay a path for him to
start using claims of fact and value to strengthen his main argument.
Matthews essay invokes a form of authority when opposing side challenges craftmanship. The
craftsman is proud of what he has made, and cherishes it, while the consumer discards things that
are perfectly serviceable in his restless pursuit of the new. (Crawford) The author presents an
insider perspective on how a craftsman would perceive the value they hold in something they
made, comparing it to someone who may not be a craftsman and seeing the value in something
they bought. This instance adds to the purpose of the essay because it gives the perspective of
how a craftsman can take pride in their own work. This gives the audience encouragement to
adopting a trade because the way Crawford presented his language described how craftsman take
Crawford and Rose may have similar rhetoric strategies deployed throughout their essays
but each has their own special format in the way they used them. Mike used storytelling to
describe how his mother became an intelligent woman working at a restaurant. Rose also
included empirical evidence to boost credibility with his audience which gave him foundation to
presenting his claims of fact and value. Crawford surfaced his storytelling, description, and
imagery by giving descriptions of his own craftmanship, relaying to his purpose that admiration
is found in having a trade skill. Both authors had well developed strategies used to effectively
deploy their purposes and used a strategic form of language to captivate their audiences.
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