We have already talked about rhetorical situations from Learning Module 1, so we are going to back up a bit and talk about rhetoric more broadly.
There are many MANY definitions of rhetoric. In our textbook, Graves, Corcoran, and Blankenship define it broadly as “the kinds of choices people make both to interpret and create forms of communication” (95).
Rhetoric, then, might be best thought of in the context of our class as a way of thinking. That is, a way of considering “why do this and not that? What effect would there be if I did this instead? Why did the writer do that? I wonder what purpose that served their argument or narrative by doing that?” and so on. We can call this rhetorical thinking.
As a way of thinking, to formalize it a bit more, we might use rhetorical analysis to take the time to work out our thinking in our writing as a way to understand any object that is written, designed, composed, created, etc. How that object has a purpose of some kind, an audience it hopes to reach, different constraints that the creator was under, unstated ideologies it serves, and ways we can make meaning with that object.
An Example of Rhetorical Thinking and Analysis
One of my earliest memories of being really purposeful in rhetorical thinking was when I was in high school. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) functioned much like texting and some forms of social media function today. It was how we communicated with our friends, whereas people who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s may have used a landline telephone. One day, a friend of mine showed me a (printed out!) transcript of an AIM conversation between him and his then-girlfriend. He wanted to show me because they were talking about their relationship and though she confirmed that she wanted to stay together, he got a vibe that something was off.
I read it over and because I knew my friend wanted another perspective on it, I paid really close attention to her specific word choice. I remember lots of hedging (or, qualifying what she was saying in ways that left open the possibility that she was not as committed as she claimed) and an indirect writing style that never quite assertively said that she wanted to stay in the relationship. My interpretation was that she wasn’t feeling him any more. It wasn’t quite working out.
Well, later on, it turned out that my rhetorical analysis I did after reading the transcript and talking with my friend was pretty accurate! They broke up a few weeks later. It wasn’t working. And though she wasn’t ready to tell him that, a close rhetorical analysis gave me and my friend a more evidence-based perspective on how the relationship was going. When they broke up, I think he was less surprised.
Examples from Your Life
As I said earlier on this semester, you all are experts in language and rhetoric and writing already. You’ve done it all of your life. In our class, we are practicing being more aware of our abilities as readers, writers, and communicators so as to keep improving our developing expertise.
Before moving on, share in the comments below an example where you used some rhetorical thinking or a more formal rhetorical analysis in a way that helped you or someone else the way I helped my friend in my example above. Give me details about what the object you were analyzing was, what you thought about it, and why you thought about it that way. Be specific! To be substantive, make it about 50-100 words.
Once you commented below, click the button below to move on.
One time In my life when I used Rhetorical Thinking would have to be one time when I helped one of my friends revive an old friendship that was lost due to a miscommunication among the two people. In order to allow them to understand, I had to explain to each that there was this lack in communication and there was mixed signals which caused them to fall out. I knew that there was never a true reason for them to not be friends so being able explain that helped them.
One rhetorical situation I remember was when I was inquiring a friend about where one of our classmates was going for college. He said he knows but that our classmate did not want him to share it with others. I immediately concluded that this classmate of ours did not think highly of her school, since otherwise she would have been comfortable to share it with others, as would anyone else in that situation.
A rhetorical situation I was in happened in high school. My friends girlfriend kept saying she was fine and didn’t want to talk to him about what happened. After he came to me for help we were able to tell that she was actually very upset and was showing constantly showing signs of it. By her not acting regular we were able to tell something was wrong and make the situation better.
One situation where I used rhetorical thinking was when I got into an argument with one of my best friends. I was upset at him and we did not speak for about a week or two. That gave me time to reflect and I realized that I was being too harsh on him for the small mistake that he made. By using rhetorical thinking, we understood that we were both in the wrong and apologized to each other.
An example of an instance where I used rhetorical analysis in real life is when I saw a tv commercial advertising a soap. Ordinarily, I never think much of commercials because I always tell myself that no amount of advertising can change my mind regarding my favorite shopping items. However, in this particular case, I was buying bars of bathing soap and instead of picking my usual brand, I went for a different brand. I remembered that I had seen the new brand in a tv ad which stated that for every purchase, 1 dollar would go to a charitable cause. At this point, I realized that the ad had utilized pathos or emotional appeal to get me to buy their product. Nevertheless, I went ahead and bought the product because I perceived the philanthropic idea behind the advertising to be well-intended.
In the situatuion I use rhetorical thinking the most is when sending and important text to someone in an attempt to convince them of doing something or an idea. First I make a draft in the notes app of my phone and look for the correct words and synonyms to sounds more appealing. Finally, I read it from the perspective of whoever I’m going to send this text to, and after that I send it.
I think a good example of a time where I used rhetorical thinking would probably be my day-to-day life when i’m texting people. I tend to read too much into texts sometimes, so i wind up over-analyzing a text and taking it in a completely different direction. So though this isn’t an example of a time where it HELPED me to think rhetorically, I think it’s a good example regardless because it shows you’re not gonna be right about everything, so you just need to keep trying to get better at it.
One time I used rhetorical thinking was when an email from a teacher about a Zoom bombing angered students. The zoom bomber yelled racial slurs and made racial threats. Within the email the teacher wrote that the bombing wasn’t directed towards anyone and that it disturbed everyone. I first skimmed over it and didn’t know what people were fussing about. But after thinking about what that section meant, it forgets to acknowledge that the “attack” was in fact targeted to a group of people and black students may have been affected much more because it was directed towards them.
In one of my previous jobs, I asked for a raise that I felt was deserved because I had taken on extra duties. I had also made it clear that I was willing to come down on my request but there was still no progress on the matter. After some other meetings and letters from upper management, I had picked up on some clues about an upcoming budget crunch due to asset mismanagement. I then realized that it was time to leave. Now I am more careful about being taken advantage of by employers.
One time that I used rhetorical thinking was when I was looking over text message between my girlfriend and one of our other friends. The arguement was about running for an officer posistion in the band counsel at our school. After looking over the messages, I was able to conclude that the friend was being manipulative by trying to convince my girlfriend that it would be unfair for her to run for office since she had already been given other leadership opportunities that our friend had not gotten.
One time when I used rhetoric is when my friend was having trouble with her school work. I observed that she was upset and confused. She was never like that. From my observations I came to the conclusion that something was wrong. I told her that I would be able to help her and that she should share her problem. She told me that she was being stalked by an unknown man on her way to school. After this I helped her report the situation to the right people and figure out the right thing to do.
I constantly use rhetorical thinking when I confront others. If it is through text, I will reread what I wrote and look at it from other perspectives. In person, I will recite and think of what I will say beforehand. I do this so I can give the best and most respectful argument, so people won’t have any leverage to talk badly about me later on.