The Rhetorical Analysis ENG 1123: COMPOSITION B

ROCHESTER COLLEGE

SPRING 2018

What is Rhetorical Analysis? •What is rhetoric? • The “means of persuasion”

• The art of effective speaking and writing

•What is analysis? • Examining the parts to have a better understanding of the whole

•“When you write a rhetorical analysis, you systematically examine the strategies a writer employs to achieve his or her purpose. In the process, you explain how these strategies work together to create an effective (or ineffective) argument.” –Kirzner and Mandell

•Rhetorical analysis requires more than careful attention to the text. You need to also attend to the circumstances surrounding the composition of the argument.

The Rhetorical Situation •Writer • Who is making the argument? What is his/her background? What biases might s/he have?

•Purpose • Why did the writer make this argument? What is s/he hoping to achieve?

•Audience • Who is the writer hoping to persuade? What assumptions does the writer make about his/her

audience?

•Question • What issues is the writer confronting? Does s/he confront them appropriately?

•Context • Where and when did the writer compose the argument? What social, historical, economic political and

cultural events influenced the argument?

Aristotle’s Rhetoric “There are, then, these three means of effecting persuasion. The man who is to be in command of them must, it is clear, be able (1) to reason logically, (2) to understand human character and goodness in their various forms, and (3) to understand the emotions—that is, to name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are excited.”-Aristotle, The Art of Rhetoric

The Rhetorical Appeals •Logos • Appeals to reason and factual evidence

•Ethos • Appeals to the speaker’s credibility

•Pathos • Appeals to the audience’s emotions

Logos •Logos is an appeal based on reasoning and factual evidence

•Deductive Reasoning •Reasoning using a series of premises

•Inductive Reasoning •Reasoning using specific examples

Deduction •Syllogisms • Major Premise, Minor Premise, and Conclusion

• Major Premise • Men are mortal, and

•Minor Premise • Socrates is a man. Therefore:

• Conclusion • Socrates is mortal

Deduction, cont. •Both the major premise and the minor premise must be true in order for the conclusion to be true.

•True: • All dogs are mammals.

• All poodles are dogs.

• All poodles are mammals.

•False: • All poodles are dogs.

• All mammals are poodles.

• All mammals are dogs.

Enthymemes • More often than not, writers will not state their premises explicitly • What we usually encounter explicitly stated in argumentative texts are enthymemes

• Aristotle called enthymemes “truncated syllogisms” • Enthymemes are syllogisms in which one or more of the premises is unstated

• Enthymemes rely on the audience to fill in the missing premise

• i.e. Socrates is a man, so he is mortal (missing major premise)

Induction •Argument by example • When making an argument using inductive reasoning, there must be sufficient examples to support the

conclusion.

Example 1 ◦ Your pet is a mammal with four legs; and

Example 2 ◦ Your pet likes chewing on bones; and

Example 3 ◦ Your pet barks at the mailman; Therefore:

Conclusion ◦ Your pet is a dog.

•When does argument by example lead to false conclusions?

Logos Questions for analyzing logos:

• What is the author’s claim?

• What evidence does the author use to support the claim?

• Does the author use deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, or both?

• If the author uses deductive reasoning, what are the premises? Are they stated or unstated?

• If the author uses inductive reasoning, what examples does the author provide? Are there a sufficient number of examples?

Ethos •Ethos is an appeal to the speaker’s character • Essentially, a speaker should convince the audience that he/she is trustworthy and credible

•Why is it important to establish credibility with your audience?

•How do writers establish credibility?

•Questions for analyzing ethos: ◦ How would you describe the writer’s tone? Is it appropriate for the subject matter?

◦ Is the author knowledgeable about the subject?

◦ Does the author cite credible sources?

◦ Does the author adequately address counterarguments?

Pathos •Pathos is an appeal to the audience’s emotions or values.

•Where have you encountered appeals to pathos?

•What emotions can help you persuade your audience/reader?

•How do writers evoke emotions in an audience?

•How can appeals to pathos fail to persuade an audience? When are they ineffective?

•Questions for analyzing pathos: • What emotions does the argument evoke?

• How does the author evoke these emotions (narratives, examples, illustrations, etc.)?

• Does the author make allusions to other works?

• Does the author use words with specific connotations?

• Does the author make reference to religious or patriotic symbols?

Rhetorical Strategies •Thesis • What is the writer’s claim?

•Evidence • How does the writer support the claim?

•Organization • How is the argument arranged?

•Stylistic Devices • Simile and Metaphor

• Allusion

• Parallelism

• Repetition

• Rhetorical Questions

Fallacies Fallacies are arguments that rely on false or dishonest appeals.

Common Fallacies ◦ Ad hominem

◦ Attack someone’s character rather than the issue

◦ Bandwagon Appeals

◦ Because the majority think or do something, we should, too

◦ Either/Or

◦ Oversimplifies complex issues by only presenting two options

◦ Straw man

◦ Arguments that misrepresent an opposing point of view

◦ Slippery Slope

◦ Arguments that assert one event will inevitably lead to another without presenting evidence of cause and effect

Example Rhetorical Analysis Barbara Jordan’s “Statement of the Articles of Impeachment” • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1lkxXOQtVc

Rhetorical Analysis • https://eng1123blog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/sample-rhetorical-analysis.pdf

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” For class Thursday, read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (available on the course blog). Once you have read it, answer the following questions:

•What is the rhetorical situation? • Who is the writer? Who is the audience? What is the purpose? What is the context?

• Keep in mind that you will need to do some outside reading to answer these questions.

•How does MLK use rhetorical appeals in the letter? • How does he appeal to logos? How does he appeal to pathos? How does he appeal to ethos?

•What rhetorical strategies does he employ? • What stylistic devices does he use?