Medieval Rhetoric: The Art Of Persuasion

Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs is a splendidly woven book that teaches people how to become rhetorical. Heinrichs spent many years working with the art of rhetorical persuasion. Even though he is a husband, father, teacher, and author, he always finds time to perfect his persuasion skills. Heinrichs’s main strategies which he uses constantly throughout the book are his backstories and examples; with that, his best chapter is Chapter nine: Control the Mood, and I believe this book should be used in college as ENGL 1301 study guides to help students get a better idea on the art of persuasion.

Grant-Davie considered audiences those with whom rhetors negotiate with discourse to achieve the objective. Discourse can have primary and secondary audiences. He discussed Douglas Park’s definition of audience that includes those who hear or read a discourse, those who are a part of an external rhetorical situation, those who the writer thinks of, and the audience suggested by the discourse. Grant-Davie says that reading and writing can be a negotiation between the readers and writers.

Thank You for Arguing is a popular substitute textbooks for upper level English classes written by Jay Heinrichs, a journalist that has taught the art of persuasion to numerous Ivy League schools, the Pentagon, and even NASA. In attempt to restore that art of persuasion, Heinrichs submerges the modern world into the ancient realm of persuasion in the most entertaining way possible. Based on the teachings of Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson, this clever approach to teachings displays the best of rhetoric through the eyes of the twenty-first century. Despite other unique methods, Heinrichs primarily utilizes anecdotes to convey various techniques which is best displayed in Chapter 21: Lead Your Tribe.

In persuading their audience, Aristotle asserts that authors make use of a triad or rhetorical appeals that comprise of pathos, ethos as well as logos. The two documents under examination, The Declaration of Independence and Letter from Birmingham written by two great American men in different times in history make effective use of the rhetorical appeals in order to connect with the target audience.

Based on the readings and videos that you read/watched during week one, how would you describe “rhetoric”? What is “the rhetorical situation” and how do you see an awareness of this concept affecting your writing and behaviors?

Successful public speakers tend to use the canons of rhetoric elements to craft their presentations in a way for their speeches to be more effective. The canons of rhetoric used in this presentation were intervention, arrangement, style, and delivery. Intervention is determining the goal of the presentation as well as the conducting research and providing facts to back the message. The arrangement of the presentation was well thought-out, the message was clear and concise from the beginning to conclusion. Style fit this presentation well and was arranged in a way to keep grasp the attention of the audience. The canon of delivery for the presentation was great everything flowed well and you are certainly able to tell preparations were conducted.

Grant-Davie describes thoroughly the term rhetorical situation and how the development of the definition and its constituents has contributed to the discovery of the motives and responses behind any discourse. The analysis of rhetorical situations could determine the outer or inner influences of the rhetors, the audience, and their particular constraints.

Rhetorical appeals reveal the hidden message the character is trying to convey. The rhetoric also highlights the character’s emotions, feelings and the significance of the text. It allows readers to gain a better understanding of the characters. Arthur Miler, the author of The Crucible, highlights the importance of mass hysteria through rhetorical appeals. John Proctor, the tragic hero is a loyal, honest, and kind-hearted individual. Proctor utilizes strong rhetorical appeals to highlight his emotions and his speaking style. Proctor values his reputation and name. Proctor was trying to end Abigail because she was falsely accusing other innocent people of witchcraft. The famous play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller explores Proctors speaking style

My definition of rhetoric before the readings was simply: successful written or oral communication with a clear purpose & audience in mind. After completing the readings, I have decided that is not specific enough and does not encompass what rhetoric really is. The readings by Crusus, Channell, and Drucker helped establish a clear relationship between argument, “mature reasoning”, and communication as a mode used to communicate. Both of the readings provided a clearer understanding of argument and communication, key components to rhetoric, but did not change my definition until I read “The Rhetorical Situation” by Bitzer. The idea of a rhetorical situation, provided a clear application of the question: “What is rhetoric?” in a historical, realistic

(3+ Objective sentences that explain how the rhetorical strategy identified is used and an analysis how that strategy appeals to the audience. )

In the early days preceding the first fireside chat on 12, March 1933, the American people’s confidence in the banking system was at an all-time low. As the confidence in the banking system began to erode, people began to make runs and withdrawing all their money leaving the banks empty and foreclosing many of the smaller rural banks. Banks continued to close despite the government's best efforts, as a result, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) instituted the banking holiday on 6 March 1933: closing all the banks preventing people from withdrawing all their assets, foreclosing, even more, banks and making the situation worse. When the banks closed FDR started to initiate a plan to inform the American people about how the banks worked, what they do with the money, and how he and the government are going to solve the issue.

A “letter from Birmingham Jail” is regarded as one of the most notable examples of rhetoric argument in American history, this letter was written by Martin Luther King in April 16 1963 as a response to “A Call for Unity” an open letter written by eight clergymen critiquing King’s peaceful movement calling it “unwise and untimely.” Martin Luther King confutes this eight clergy men by masterfully rebutting his opponents’ claims through a skillful use of different modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos and logos. This rhetorical paper will meticulously review these mentioned rhetorical appeals.

(3+ Objective sentences that explain how the rhetorical strategy identified is used and an analysis how that strategy appeals to the audience. )

What makes a speech effective? Using rhetoric, a person can appeal to others emotion and logic to persuade a person into doing a desired action. They can encourage a person into success or they can discourage a person into wanting to prove others wrong. The two speeches that will be discussed in this paper will be from Remember the Titans Gettysburg Speech and Glory Road Final game speech. The Gettysburg speech was made in the middle of movie. This speech happens after the football team run up the hill where battle at Gettysburg happen. The coach uses the battle to help illustrate the battle the team is facing with not only people within the team but with people wanting them to fail, the people who refuse for change. This speech was used to

How powerful is a single story? At Ted Global 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist, expresses her view of single stories and the ways in which they are used to create stereotypes and divides us as a people. Adichie’s talk, “The Danger of a Single Story”, stimulates careful consideration to what happens when people and situations are reduced to a single narrative. She believes single stories are highly correlated with the power structures of the world and have the ability to strip people of their humanity. In my rhetorical analysis essay, I will detail how Adichie’s talk is effective in persuading her audience because of the Cause & Effect Analysis, Exemplification, and Metadiscourse rhetorical strategies.