Doing Rhetorical Analysis

Let’s get some more practice with this and think about things to do to make your own rhetorical analysis.

 

Things To Do

Follow these steps as you look over your texts for your Rhetorical Analysis and think through how you can turn it into a compelling paper in response to the prompt.

  1. Pick texts (which texts will help you address the prompt?). Think back to what we did on March 1!
  2. Consider scale (do I want to look at an episode of a show or a whole season? why or why not?). Do you want to look at an episode vs. a season vs. the whole series? A chapter or passage of a book or the whole book? A 30 second ad or a years-long advertising campaign? Bigger the scale, than the more narrow the focus (e.g., a very specific theme across seasons, an analysis of one character across one season). Smaller the scale, than the focus does not need to be as narrow. However, a danger of rhetorical analysis is always: let me analyze everything! If *everything* is analyzed to great detail, then it might be hard to have a coherent take away other than “this piece has rhetorical qualities to it.” Of course it does! Every text has rhetorical qualities. Make an argument about the rhetorical qualities, tell me about patterns and themes to say something noteworthy or interesting about the text you are analyzing.
  3. Take notes (think back to Reading Annotation assignments! Take notes where you pause, where you have questions, where things start to connect to the argument you might make). Think of this like doing your Reading Annotation assignments. Note things that are interesting, surprising, confusing, note patterns, note things that connect to research interests you have, etc. If you are watching or listening to something, you should mark where the event occurs. Note the timestamp on the video or audio file: something happens that you want to take a note, you hit pause, you look at the time so far (e.g., happened at the 26th minute, happened at approximately 26:31).
  4. Find patterns/themes/etc. (look for connections, things that stand out in the notes you take). Look over your notes that you took as you read/viewed/listened. Start to note patterns, themes, connections. What sorts of arguments, images, words, phrases, etc. keep coming up? Start to do some freewriting about these patterns, themes, and connections.
  5. Choose a lens (see if a lens helps you look at your notes…once you have a lens, take notes again with another reading/viewing/listening). Go back to the “Tools for Analysis” chapter from our textbook. Review the lenses offered there and start to think about which ones would be most useful for analyzing your text. Don’t just focus on “what” you see, but “how” it is put together. For example: don’t just note topics that come up in your text, but how those topics are constructed (e.g., word choice, sentence structure, the type of imagery, character traits).
  6. Context (what important cultural or historical information will help you understand the text?). Make sure you are also listing out any relevant context to consider for your analysis. What media (e.g., a video, online writing, print writing, audio) is used and how does that affect how the text is made? What genre is it? What audience expectations might there be? What is the time period it was made? What cultural context was it produced in?
  7. Look again.  (What do you notice? What do you think about it? How does it connect to your argument?–ask these questions as you review your notes) You can read closely here or skim a bit (or fastforward). But now that you have your lens or lenses handy, you will look at the text with a new perspective. Take some notes again with your lens or lenses in mind. Also review your old notes, too.
  8. State claim/give evidence/comment on evidence (turn some of this into writing in your draft: make the claim, offer the evidence from the text, connect the text to your claim). Turn #7 into concrete writing. Use what you found when looking again to start to argue about what you see in the text.

 

Task

Let’s try out #3-8 in this above list. We will use the following image to do this practice, to the best you can (since you are not using this below image to respond to the prompt–so just think about an argument in general rather than specific to the prompt).

Image to analyze:

Two children in gym, one with a dodgeball and another with an assault rifle. Text says at top: One child is holding something that's been banned in America to protect them. Guess which one (in red)....Below it reads: "We ban the game dodgeball because it's viewed as being too violent? Why not assault weapons? Momsdemandaction.org. Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America logo to right bottom.

Might be hard to see text on this image, so here it is:

Text says at top: One child is holding something that’s been banned in America to protect them. Guess which one (in red)

At bottom it reads: “We ban the game dodgeball because it’s viewed as being too violent? Why not assault weapons?

Then there is the website listed, Momsdemandaction.org, and then the Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America logo to right bottom.

In a comment below, list out responses of #3-8 as best as you can. In your comment, number all of your responses to correlate to the above list. For instance, offer some initial notes you took for #3, and then think about patterns you found when looking at these notes in #4, and so on.

After commenting below, click on the button to continue:

Button that says click to continue

12 thoughts on “Doing Rhetorical Analysis

  1. 3. Left child is hold a ball, right child is holding a gun. The child has no trigger discipline. Disgusting
    4. To persuade others that if dodgeball is banned for being violent, then guns should be too.
    5. Logos
    6. Dodge ball was banned in school PE classes for being violet. Gun control is able to roam free when guns can cause more damage than a ball game.
    7. I notice that I have more information to work with.
    8. The image compares the banning of dodge ball to firearms. It bring awareness to gun control as it can be more violent than a ball game, yet no action was done to gun conttrol.

  2. 3) Kids holding a dodgeball and a gun. Dodgeball vs. Gun, one is banned to protect children from violence.
    4) Theme of Gun Control to protect children
    5) Logos
    6) Dodgeball is banned across American schools for its violence and danger to American children. However, guns logically pose a higher sense of risk and danger due to the lethality of the weapon compared to dodgeball. Also, guns have taken more lives of children than kids getting hit by dodgeballs. This image most likely comes after the advocacy for more gun control in our country after events like Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Stoneman Douglas where children lost their lives from gun violence.
    7) The setting of the image is in a school gymnasium/auditorium with dodgeballs across the floor in the background.
    8) American society seemingly prioritizes the banning of dodgeball due to its violence over gun control in America which is a lot more violent than dodgeball, especially with the amount of deaths and injuries guns have caused over dodgeball.

  3. 3) On one side a kid is holding a dodge ball and the other Kid is holding a firearm. Showing which one is dangerous
    4) gun control, showing me which one is more dangerous
    5) Logos
    6)since dodge ball has been banned from PE classes since it was considered dangerous, then why is it being compared to guns which are far more dangerous compared to a ball.
    7) I see a gym area in the image
    8) The image shows dodge ball was a priority to get banned but we are able to see what the real danger is and what really needs to get banned or well have more control over.

  4. 3. One kid is hold a harmless dodge ball. One kid is holding a lethal rifle and maybe someone should tell him to keep his finger off the trigger, how nasty.
    4. Gun control to uphold safety
    5. Logos
    6. Dodge ball is literally a game and yet its banned. While guns are being bought everywhere which is ironic.
    7. The kids are in a gymnasium and that could relate to both dodge ball being played or a school shooting which would be more likely since dodge ball is banned.
    8. This picture is trying to persuade people that guns should be banned especially when dodge ball is banned since guns are way more dangerous for anyone to have.

  5. 3. Two children standing in a gymnasium one holding a rubber ball and the other holding an assault rifle.

    4. Clearly a message about the lack of gun control in america

    5. Purpose

    6. The image’s purpose is to draw attention to the absurdity of the gun law situation in America. It is meant to show how we will ban something as frivolous as dodgeball for being too violent but still permit civilians with no training to buy assault weapons. It is meant to elicit anger and hopefully action in the people who see it, to write into their representatives to tighten gun control laws.

    7. The child holding the gun has his finger on the trigger. Maybe meant to indicate how many accidental child deaths are caused by them shooting themselves or maybe to reference school shooters.

    8. I would argue that there need to stricter gun control measures put in place in the United States. If a dodgeball is too violent for children then why should they be exposed to situations involving firearms? No civilian should have assault weapons in the home and it only puts children in harm’s way.

  6. 3. This image is highly reminiscent of propaganda and political posters used throughout the last decade. It aims at conflating ideas and terms that are deliberately decontextualized in order to mislead. There are certainly issues with gun laws in the United States that must be addressed, but an image that stands over the graves of children who died in school shootings is not the answer.

    4. The theme in the image is that there is inconsistency in the laws regarding the protection of America’s children and that if there were more gun control, children would be safer.

    5. Pathos

    6. For the past couple decades especially, schools in the United states have been the targets of shooters which has made many parents fear for the lives of their children in some school districts. I think everybody can agree that school shootings are a uniquely terrible evil that needs to stop. It might seem extremely appealing to tighten restrictions on guns or maybe ban guns altogether to protect children, but doing so would be missing the point of why civilians are allowed to own guns in the first place. Perhaps, banning guns would prevent the deaths of many people who die at the hands of violent and irresponsible gun owners, but on the flip side, it would also cause many deaths by preventing many people from adequately defending themselves. Gun laws are also extremely over politicized as made clear by the SAFE act which specifically prohibits certain cosmetic features of guns which have no effect on the performance of a gun such as the shape of the stock on the gun. A lot of people who have committed these atrocities are also mentally ill to an extent like in the case of the 2018 Parkland school shooting which demonstrates that guns are only as dangerous as the people who bear them. Seemingly, guns must not end up in the hands of violent and unstable people who will ultimately abuse them, but the means by which we obtain this universal goal seems to be the center of disagreement for many.

    7. I think there is definitely an element of logos to an extent because the text ironically points out how something as innocent as dodgeball can be banned when very little attention is given to things that are literally contributing to the murder of children such as guns.

    8. I think the logic in the image is very weak because it is hyper focused on the negatives of having dodgeball played in schools as compared to guns being accessible to civilians . What I mean by this is that the image suggests that if volleyball were not banned it would make little difference in protecting children in schools, whereas banning guns would significantly improve the safety of schools. This premise fails to recognize the cost of each banning dodgeball as contrasted with banning guns. Playing dodgeball has little to no positive contribution to the lives of any person, therefore banning it also has little to no consequence. On the other hand, guns positively contribute to many people by allowing them to operate businesses safely, defend their loved ones at home and potentially save them in the face of government tyranny, therefore completely banning guns would rid people of these protections.

  7. 3. I see two young children one holding a dodgeball which has been banned to protect these young children from getting hurt because it was labeled as “violent”. The other holding a Rifle. Rifles haven’t been banned to protect young children.
    4. The theme of this image is to show that a dodgeball, which is less harmful is banned and the gun isn’t when it is lethal and this relates to Gun control in America.
    5. Logos
    6. Dodgeball was banned in gym class due to it being violent, yet guns that can be lethal are able to be bought all over America. Some places easier than others. You can even buy guns online nowadays.
    7. I notice how the kid holding the gun, his finger is on the trigger. Also they are both standing in a gym.
    8. If dodgeball is violent for children then wouldn’t guns be 10x worse yet they are accessible. In my opinion we definitely need stricter gun laws because this is right at all.

  8. 3. One kid had a doge ball and one kid has a gun. I noticed that the kid is holding the gun with a finger on his trigger and he shouldn’t be doing that.
    4. The theme of this is gun control.
    5. logos
    6. Guns are allowed to be purchased and not considered violent to carry around while they ban doge ball which isn’t violent.
    7. I notice that they are both in a gym.
    8. This picture brings up the idea of gun control. There are both positives and negatives to banning guns while you get nothing out of banning doge ball.

  9. 3. Two children standing in a gym, one holding a gun and one with a dodgeball.
    4. The theme relating to this image is gun control.
    5. Logos
    6. The context surrounding this image is attention being brought to the fact that a simple game like dodgeball is banned while guns which are far more dangerous are lacking in regulation and allowed to be purchased.
    7. The image takes place in a gym and one child’s finger is on the trigger which could signify the presence and conflicts relating to gun violence in the education system.
    8. The idea is to bring attention to how easy it is to obtain a gun and the damage they pose especially in public schools and to children and make the audience view how ridiculous it seems to ban a ball game but not potential death weapons.

  10. 3) Two kids standing next to each other in a gym, one holding a dodgeball, the other holding a gun.
    4) Gun control appears to be the theme
    5) Logos
    6) The game of dodgeball is literally just a sport with as many risks as many other sports we play out there, but the risks it brings is seen to be bad enough to be banned, while guns, which are lethal weapons, are still legal to carry around.
    7) Both children are in a gym, where a large group of kids usually are having PE class in.
    8) This means that between a dodgeball game and a school shooting, a shooting would be more likely to take place, since schools won’t allow the playing of a banned sport. This emphasizes the absurdity of the situation as a fun sport can be banned while a weapon capable of mass killings can still be around.

  11. 3. One kid is holding a dodgeball another is holding a gun. Dodgeball is banned but its less dangerous than a gun.
    4. Gun control
    5.logos
    6. Guns arent banned and are more dangerous than dodgball which is considered dangerous and is banned.
    7. The image takes place in a school gym
    8. I would argue than gun control laws need to be stricter due to how dangerous it can be if the wrong person were to be able to get a gun.

  12. 3. The kid on the left is holding a dodgeball meanwhile the kid on the right is holding an assault rifle.
    4. The theme is gun violence and bans.
    5. Logos
    6. The game of dodgeball is considered dangerous and is banned meanwhile assault weapons aren’t banned.
    7. The image takes place in a school gym.
    8. The main idea is that gun laws and bans should be looked into since something as harmless as dodgeball (compared to guns) aren’t banned.

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