What Do Students Need to Know About Rhetoric?

Hepzibah Roskelly University of North Carolina Greensboro, North Carolina The traditional definition of rhetoric, first proposed by Aristotle, and embellished over the centuries by scholars and teachers, is that rhetoric is the art of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.

The Rhetorical Triangle: Subject, Audience, Speakers Persona

Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. Aristotle

Aristotle believed that from the world around them, speakers could observe how communication happens and use that understanding to develop sound and convincing arguments. In order to do that, speakers needed to look at three elements, graphically represented by what we now call the rhetorical triangle:

Aristotle said that when a rhetor or speaker begins to consider how to compose a speech that is, begins the process of inventionthe speaker must take into account three elements: the subject, the audience, and the speaker. The three elements are connected and interdependent; hence, the triangle. Considering the subject means that the writer/speaker evaluates what he or she knows already and needs to know, investigates perspectives, and determines kinds of evidence or proofs that seem most useful. You may have been taught how to conduct research into a subject and how to support claims with appropriate evidence, and it is the subject point of the triangle that you are probably most aware of and feel most confident about. But, as Aristotle shows, knowing a subjectthe theme of a novel, literary or rhetorical terms, reasons for the Civil Waris only one facet of composing.
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Considering the audience means speculating about the readers expectations, knowledge, and disposition with regard to the subject writers explore. When you respond to an assignment given by a teacher, they have the advantage of knowing a bit of what their audience expects from them because it is often spelled out. Five to seven pages of error-free prose. State your thesis clearly and early. Use two outside sources. Have fun.All of these instructions suggest what the reader expects and will look for. When there is no assignment, writers must imagine their readers, and if they follow Aristotles definition, they will use their own experience and observation to help them decide on how to communicate with readers. The use of experience and observation brings Aristotle to the speaker point of the triangle. Writers use who they are, what they know and feel, and what theyve seen and done to find their attitudes toward a subject and their understanding of a reader. Decisions about formal and informal language, the use of narrative or quotations, the tone of familiarity or objectivity, come as a result of writers considering their speaking voices on the page. This triangle will hopefully help you envision the rhetorical situation. Aristotle saw these rhetorical elements coming from lived experience. Speakers knew how to communicate because they spoke and listened, studied, and conversed in the world. Exercises that ask you to observe carefully and comment on rhetorical situations in actionthe cover of a magazine, a conversation in the lunchroom, the principals address to the student bodyreinforce observation and experience as crucial skills for budding rhetoricians as well as help you transfer skills to your writing and interpreting of literary and other texts.

Appeals to Logos, Pathos, and Ethos

In order to make the rhetorical relationshipspeakers to hearers, hearers to subjects, speakers to subjectsmost successful, writers use what Aristotle and his descendants called the appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos. They appeal to a readers sense of logos (logic) when they offer clear, reasonable premises and proofs, when they develop ideas with appropriate details, and when they make sure readers can follow the progression of ideas. The logical thinking that informs speakers decisions and readers responses forms a large part of the kind of writing you accomplish in school. Writers use ethos (credibility) when they demonstrate that they are credible, good-willed, and knowledgeable about their subjects, and when they connect their thinking to readers own ethical or moral beliefs. Quintilian, a Roman rhetorician and theorist, wrote that the speaker should be the good man speaking well. This emphasis on good character meant that audiences and speakers could assume the best intentions and the most thoughtful search for truths about an issue. When writers draw on the emotions and interests of readers, and highlight them, they use pathos (emotion), the most powerful appeal and the most immediatehence its dominance in advertisements. You have probably practiced using this appeal before by using your personal stories or observations, sometimes even within the context of analytical writing, to provoke readers sympathetic reaction. Figurative language is often used by writers to heighten the emotional connections readers make to the subject. Emily Dickinsons poem that begins with the metaphor My life had stooda loaded gun, for example, provokes readers reactions of fear or dread as they begin to read.

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It is also important to note how intertwined all three appeals are. John F. Kennedys famous line (an example of the rhetorical trope of antimetabole, by the way), Ask not what your country can do for youask what you can do for your country, calls attention to the ethical qualities of both speaker and hearer, begins to propose a solution to some of the countrys ills by enlisting the direct help of its citizens, and calls forth an emotional patriotism toward the country that has already done so much for individuals. As you investigate how appeals work in your own writing you will begin to notice the ways in which elements of diction, imagery, and syntax work to produce persuasive effects. Over time you should become more conscious of the way youre unconsciously exercising rhetorical control.

Context and Purpose

Rhetoric is what we have instead of omniscience. Ann Berthoff

Its important to note that Aristotle omittedor confronted only indirectlytwo other elements of the rhetorical situation, the context in which writing or speaking occurs and the emerging aim or purpose that underlies many of the writers decisions. In part, Aristotle and other classical rhetoricians could assume context and aim since all speakers and most hearers were male, upper class, and concerned with addressing important civic, public issues of the day. But these two considerations affect every element of the rhetorical triangle. Ann Berthoffs statement suggests the importance of context, the situation in which writing and reading occur, and the way that an exploration of that situation, a rhetorical analysis, can lead to understanding of what underlies writers choices. We cant know for sure what writers mean, Berthoff argues, but we have rhetoric to help us interpret. One way to explore rhetoric in all its pervasiveness and complexity is to make use of the visual. You are probably an expert rhetorician when it comes to symbolic gesture, graphic design, and action shots in film! What does Donald Trumps hand gesture accompanying his straightforward Youre fired on the recent reality television program The Apprentice signal? (Notice the topical context Im using here: perhaps when you read this, this show will no longer be around.) Why does Picasso use color and action in the way he does in his painting Guernica? Why are so many Internet sites organized in columns that sometimes compete for attention? Linking the visual to the linguistic will help you gain confidence and control as you analyze and produce rhetoric.

Interpreting Emotional Appeals Letter from Birmingham Jail

Study the following paragraph from Martin Luther Kings Letter from a Birmingham Jail, a paragraph in which he employs an emotional argument to convince his audience that his actions were moral and just. Identify the elements of an emotional appeal and analyze the rhetorical devices King uses to develop this appeal.
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Using a highly effective emotional appeal, King writes the following: We have waited for more than 340 year for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, Wait. But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-yearold daughter why she cant go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have a concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading white and Colored; when your first name becomes nigger, your middle name becomes Boy (however old you are) and your last name becomes John, and your wife and mother are never given the respected title Mrs.; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of nobodiness then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable patience.

With great skill, King uses an abundance of rhetorical devices that have the potential to overwhelm the audience emotionally.

Contrast (antithesis)
1. King employs antithesis in the second sentence. Outline the pairs of contrasts. a. Places: __________________________________and ________________________ b. Moves like __________________________________ (first place) and_______________________________________(second place) c. Gains ______________________________________ (first place) and_______________________________________(second place)

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2. In a sentence, explain Kings rhetorical purpose in employing these antithetical places and ideas.

3. Find another example of antithesis in this paragraph. In a sentence, analyze the rhetorical effect.

Metaphor
4. The antithesis in the second sentence contains two metaphors. Identify them and explain their effect in the sentence.

5. The passage contains others metaphors in addition to the two already mentioned. a. Identify as many metaphors as possible. b. Find a pattern in the types of metaphors King uses.

Anaphora
The fourth sentence not only contains over 300 words but also develops the most powerful emotional argument in the paragraph. The force of the paragraph depends on Kings use of several rhetorical techniques, but the anaphora propels a driving rhythm that is particularly effective. 6. Identify similar wording repeated in the beginning of the clauses. Analyze the rhetorical effect of repeating this phrase nine times.

Alliteration
Martin Luther King is a master at using sound devices to add emphasis and detail. For instance, beginning in line 3, king writes but we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup
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of coffee The repetition of the hard c sound accentuates the slow pace of reforms to gain even the smallest right. Both creep and cup of coffee are humble things, contrasted with Asia and Africa, which move like jets to gain something much grander than a cup of coffee political independence. King uses the repetition of consonant sounds to reinforce the idea of struggling for basic rights, rights any one should take for granted. 7. Find at least four more examples of alliteration in the passage. Write the words or phrases in which alliteration is used; then write a sentence or two that explains the effect of alliteration. a. Alliteration __________________________________________________ Effect ______________________________________________________ b. Alliteration __________________________________________________ Effect ______________________________________________________ c. Alliteration __________________________________________________ Effect ______________________________________________________ d. Alliteration ___________________________________________________ Effect _______________________________________________________

Imagery
This passage floods readers with imagery designed to evoke the pity, compassion, and empathy of Kings critics. 8. Identify the types of imagery listed below and write a sentence that explains the emotional effect of each one. a. Sight

b. Sound

c. Touch

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d. Hearing

Composition
9. On a separate sheet of paper, write a one-and-a-half to two page essay explaining how King uses emotional appeals to influence his audience.

See facilitator for Final Exam. Take in one class period

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