Summary:
Everything with an intent has an analyzable rhetoric. In order to analyze this rhetoric, we have to go beyond the text in question to figure out how it affects us. We have to examine various parts of the text and their relationship to one another. Lenses, or theories, are ways of looking at texts. There are a wide variety of lenses, such as the Aristotelian lenses of ethos, pathos, and logos, providing many ways to analyze any text. When analyzing, it’s important to consider the text’s context as well as view it through theoretical lenses. When finishing up an analysis, we shouldn’t forget to offer the reader our interpretation of the text after taking it apart and putting it back together.
Response:
Reading this section of JTC, I found the plethora of methods of analyzing texts intriguing. The fact that there are so many things to consider when performing a critical analysis really makes it seem like picking a text apart bit by bit and scrutinizing every little detail to the point where there’s nothing left to say. The tools provided in this section are extremely useful and will definitely come in handy the next time I put on a lens and examine something critically.
Question:
Should I try to examine every aspect of a text until there’s nothing left to look at? Is there ever a reason to hold back?
I agree that analyzing seems like it’s picking a part the text and the question you posed really made me think about how far do you go when you analyze. There have been times where I’ve analyzed and went as far as thinking about philosophy and spiritual ideas whereas the analysis is very simple. I have the same question as to how much analysis is too much or when the best time is to stop analyzing.