Defining Genre by Social Actions

Carolyn Miller believes that the classification of genres is not as cut and dry as we might think. In her essay, she makes the claim that it is much more complex than just labeling a piece as a novel, an article or an essay, etc.  She says, “In sum, what I am proposing so fat is that in rhetoric the term “genre” be limited to a particular type of discourse classification, a classification based in rhetorical practice and consequently open rather than closed and organized around situated actions…”  In other words, genres are subjective and heavily context driven.  In that same sense, an audience is context driven and they can interpret what is said in a countless number of ways. This ties back to the concept of knowing the audience you are writing to. To most effectively write to the public, you have to be sure to convey your message in a way to your target audience is paramount.  When you are writing publicly, you must take this into consideration. First you must consider all the possible audiences that your writing could reach and realize that each of these audiences may react in a different way. Once you consider the possible audiences, you must frame your argument so that it pleases all of them as best as possible.  For example, the United Nations Children’s’ Rights document we read in class.  One of the possible audiences that the UN was trying to reach in this document were children. They had to make sure that a child was able to read and understand the rights outlined in that document. If they did not do that effectively, they would be missing their largest demographic.