From Laura Bolin Carol, “Backpacks v. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis, I learned that most of our actions are persuasive in nature. They are so common that we don’t realize how often and how quickly we can perform this rhetorical analysis. The use of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos work on us every day without us even really noticing. There’s a lot to learn from This excerpt; for example, Carol said the more you understand how to use the rhetoric, the more powerful and influential a person can be. When a person uses these devices, they leave a message to the others because they could use these devices correctly. I also realized how Media uses these rhetorics to convince people to purchase something or believe in the message they deliver. Rhetoric is a powerful set of devices that we everyday writers can use to get our point set forth and a set of routines we perform in our daily lives.
One of the quotes that stood out the most to me is, “We have, of course, heard that you “can’t judge a book by its cover,” but we do it all the time. Daily we find ourselves in situations where we are forced to make snap judgments. Each day we meet different people, encounter unfamiliar problems, and see media that asks us to do, think, buy, and act in all sorts of ways.” We come up with our conclusion based on analyzing a person. When we do this, I never knew we used those devices. Making a rash judgment on people is called rhetoric analysis.
This excerpt somewhat helped me understand how rhetoric works and when to use it mainly, and what kind of effect this rhetoric has on people. I can easily persuade my audience by my word choice, and it made may seem to analyze rhetoric, but it’s easy because we do it every day. It also an eye-opener and can help me with my paper.
Aamina, Right, one of the messages of this essay is that, although the term “rhetorical analysis” may be new to us or sound like something that belongs solely in the classroom, we are actually already experts in this kind of analysis and perform it every day. For example, if you think about the texts you send and receive, I am guessing that you could easily come up with an example in which some kind of interpersonal issue arose because of the language one person used in a text and the way it was received by the recipient. Am I right? This is a form of rhetorical analysis!