1. Introduction to Rhetoric
Rhetoric Rocks!
Why we love rhetoric!
Rhetoric—it’s everything!

2. Why Study Rhetoric?
If you interact with humanity at all, you use rhetoric.
If you care about issues that face our world, you use rhetoric.
If you use language to persuade someone, you use rhetoric.
If you have ever wanted or needed to be heard, you use rhetoric.

3. Definitions of Rhetoric
Rhetoric refers to two things:
The art of analyzing all the language choices that writer, speaker, reader or listener might make in a given situation so that they become meaningful, purposeful, and effective
The specific features of texts, written or spoken, that cause them to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners in a given situation.
Joliffe, David. Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading and Writing. New York: Pearson, 2007, 4.

4. Think of Rhetoric like the Force
Allegory=story in which all elements are symbolic
Force=rhetoric
Jedis=College Writers
Padawans=English 11 students
Yoda=Aristotle (ancient Greek philopher)
Obiwan= Mr. Walsh
Jungle on Degoba=this class
Jedi in Training

5. 3 types of rhetorical appeals:
ETHOS
LOGOS
PATHOS

6. Logos Logos—Rational Appeals facts case studies statistics experiments
logical reasoning
analogies
anecdotes
authority voices

7. Pathos Emotional Appeals (pathos) facts
appeal to beliefs and feelings higher emotions
belief in fairness
love
pity
etc.
lower emotions (greed, lust, revenge, fear, power, etc.)

8. Ethos Ethos-Reputation of the speaker trustworthiness credibility
reliability
expert testimony
reliable sources
fairness

9. Rhetorical Triangle Copy this chart nice and big on a fresh page of your WNB
Speaker:
Subject:
Audience:
Context:
Purpose:
Context:

10. Elements of a Rhetorical Situation
Subject—what is the writing about? What is the purpose?
Writer-Who is writing?
Reader-Who is the intended audience?
Purpose-Why is the writer communicating with the reader?
Context-what is the occasion for the writing? What social, historical, institutional, or cultural forces might influence the ways the writer communicates with the reader? What conventions of form and style are appropriate for this subject and audience?

11. Rhetorical Analysis
Applying the rhetorical triangle to a piece of writing
Multiple answers help us to arrive at the best answer
Make inferences based on the text about information that is not directly given
We want to move from good to better to best

12. Subject Subject—what is the writing about? What is the purpose?
Go beyond the “topic” of the piece
Be specific.
Subjects are not topics like “schools, censorship, etc.” Consider using preposition phrases to become more specific.

13. Writer: About the author…?
More than just a NAME:
Background
Education
Interests and abilities
Profession
Place of publication
Think “a person who…”

14. Reader/Audience: Who is the intended audience?
Venue of publication:
Level of the language
Interests of the audience
Socio-economic demographic information
Think “People who…”
NOT EVERYONE, NEVER “EVERYONE”

15. Context: what is the occasion for the writing?
What social, historical, institutional, or cultural forces might influence the ways the writer communicates with the reader?
Think of forces outside the text that influence BOTH the reading and writing of the text.
What conventions of form and style are appropriate for this subject and audience?

16. A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick
by Jonathan Swift .
Jonathon Swift is the author of Gulliver’s Travels.
He published “A Modest Proposal” anonymously in Ireland in 1729.
In this “proposal” Swift suggests a solution for how to deal with all the children living in extreme poverty in Ireland at that time.

17. A Modest Proposal: Reflective responses
In your WNB:
Infer: what were the social conditions in Ireland that occasioned the writing of Swift’s essay? Causes?
Infer: who was his target audience?
At what point in the essay did you recognize that Swift’s proposal is meant to be satiric? What persona does he adopt?
What is Swift’s purpose?

18. SOAPStone S = subject O = occasion (context) A = audience P = purpose
S = speaker
tone = tone 

19. How SOAPStone works:
Subject  students identify the topic of the piece Occasion  students identify the time/place of the piece and/or the current situation Audience  students identify the group of readers to whom this piece is directed Purpose  students identify the author’s reason(s) for writing the piece Speaker  students identify characteristics of the author of the piece tone  students identify the author’s tone in the piece

20. Rhetorical Triangle Subject: Purpose: Audience: Speaker: Context:

21. “Kill The Poor” by Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s.
"Kill the Poor" was the third single by the Dead Kennedys.
Released in October 1980 on Cherry Red Records
Re-recorded for the band's first album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980), although the single and album versions show little difference in comparison