1. Analyzing the rhetorical situation
CAPP(s)
Analyzing the rhetorical situation

2. What is CAPPS? This Acronym will help guide you as you prepare to write your rhetorical analysis. By identifying these, you will create a Rhetorical situation, which will become your introduction. You will also have set up the focus of your paper by identifying the strategies the author uses to strengthen the claim
C - Context
A - Audience
P – Persona of Speaker
P – Purpose
S - Strategies

3. Capp(s) Why prepare a rhetorical situation?
Understand the text at a deeper level
Consider all perspectives on the text
Create strong, focused writing

4. Context
Time
Place
People
Events

5. Let’s look at the Banneker letter as it relates to context
Time
Place – a letter written in the United States
People – Thomas Jefferson (and, by extension, other lawmakers)
Events – US has gained independence from Britain, and the US still practices slave holding – highly controversial

6. Audience What do we know about the audience? Knowledge Beliefs
Attitudes

7. Let’s look at the Banneker letter as it relates to audience
Banneker is writing to Thomas Jefferson, a politician:
Banneker knows that Jefferson fought against the British and opposed the tyranny of the British rule
Banneker knows that Jefferson is a framer of the Constitution and its belief in equality and unalienable rights
Banneker knows Jefferson is a Patriot

8. Persona of the speaker/narrator
Persona: The voice (or, sometimes, mask) a writer adopts to tell a story. Voice is usually determined by a combination of subject matter, audience, and the writer’s own feelings about the topic
How does he or she want to be perceived?
What does he or she presume about the audience/readers?
What is the motivational force for the writer?

9. Let’s look at the Banneker letter as it relates to persona
As the son of former slaves, he has anger for the inequity and brutality of slavery
As the son of former slaves, he
As a black man, he recognizes the hypocrisy of documents that do not represent all Americans

10. Purpose
What is the purpose of the piece? Infinitive phrase (to + strong verb + clarifying explanation) Examples: To urge Congress to declare war on Japan. To strengthen support for America’s war on terrorism. To guide the nation in a time of terrible tragedy.

11. Let’s look at the Banneker letter as it relates to purpose
To remind a fellow patriot who once faced tyranny and servitude at the hands of an oppressor to not partake in the same practice to his “fellow brethren” or
To urge one of the framers of the constitution that the “unalienable rights” bestowed upon Americans must be allowed for Banneker’s“fellow brethren”
To serve as the moral conscience to a man who must “put his soul in their souls stead”

12. Strategies
What strategies are used in the text? Before you begin writing, know what strategies you will analyze in your paper.
You do NOT need to list these in the introduction, especially if you move chronologically through your analysis…rather, weave a few of them into the rhetorical situation of the introduction.

13. Let’s look at the Banneker letter and strong strategies you might have identified
Some possibilities:
Banneker’s use of “sir” to stay respectful, no matter how heated the words
Banneker’s comparison of Jefferson’s oppression to his own
Bannekar’s use of a higher power to serve as the moral compass to right and wrong
Bannekers use of diction, especially, when describing the plight of the slave (“groaning captivity”)
Banneker’s arrangement of his argument –beginning with a background of the British tyranny and building his case of inequity– and ending with a call to action

14. Now let’s put this all together for an introduction.
Benjamin Banneker, son of former slaves, serves as a moral compass when he writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson, framer of the Declaration of Independence and secretary of state. In an impassioned plea, Banneker reminds a fellow patriot who once faced tyranny and servitude at the hands of an oppressor to not partake in the same practice towards Banneker’s “fellow brethren”. Using strong diction to invoke both patriotism for country and shame for hypocritical practices, the writer urges the politician to “wean himself of that narrow prejudice”.
What parts of this introduction do you recognize as CAPPS?
Find them. What is missing?