What Is The Rhetorical Fallacy In Emerson's Speech

Both Sherman Alexie and Francine Prose utilize various rhetorical strategies throughout their essays to captivate their audience. However, Alexie and Prose present and use these rhetorical strategies in different ways. Prose’s essay contains different components of literary devices than Alexie’s essay. For example, one of the rhetorical methods Prose uses is to take on a certain identity to build her credibility and to strengthen her argument. While Alexie also takes on an identity to fortify his argument, it is a completely different identity than Prose. The authors both appropriate a distinctive style and rhetorical devices into their essays, which in turn create strong arguments, captivate the audience, and reveal the writer’s true thoughts and feelings.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau both use the same kinds of rhetorical strategies in their writing to achieve similar purposes, although they target completely opposite audiences.

Some may say that educational systems are superior, however, some can argue that the educational system needs a change. Francine Prose’s purpose in “I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Read” stood out clearly, to inform parents on how the current system of education is ineffective to young learners. Her use of words, ethos, logos and pathos appeals to educators and students to inspire change in their education standards.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote Self-Reliance during the time period when transcendentalism emerged, thus based his essay off of this ideology. Transcendentalism is known as the philosophy that divine truth is present in all created things and that truth is known through intuition, not through the rational mind. This principle seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout many of Emerson’s essays. In fact, he is known as a transcendentalist philosopher. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance, Emerson is convincing his readers that self-reliance is more important than being dependent on others by using metaphors and pathos.

David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” at Kenyon College is often thought of as one of the most influential speeches because it calls the graduates to observe the world around them through a different lens. However, he does not accomplish that by calling the graduates to action, but instead challenges them to use their education. He also appeals to the students’ emotions through his use of ethos, logos, and pathos. Although people mostly only remember the antidotes, it is the message associated with reoccurring emotions and literary devices throughout the speech that moves the reader into action. Wallace is able to captivate his audience and persuade them to view the world without themselves at the center through his tactful use of rhetoric. He encourages them to first find who they are and what they stand for, to then effectively determine

Neil Gaiman once wrote, “some books exist between covers that are perfectly people-shaped” (Gaiman xvi). The idea that books can be defined as the sharing of thoughts and information between people reveals a deeper meaning in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist faces a society in which books are censored and, thus, burned. This, according to his definition, means that if books become banned, certain connections between people will, too, be destroyed. Ray Bradbury reveals the theme (the importance of books) through the protagonist’s dynamic character, which comes as a result from his conflicts with society.

Things can be seen different in many perspectives. It can be interpreted in ways others can’t see. But in order to regulate and adjust our lives, to show the meaning of what we see, we need the solitude to consolidate our thoughts and see things that were hidden in the first place. In “Nature,” Ralph Waldo Emerson applies rhetorical strategies for instance the imagery of unity and the allusion of God to experience the nature in solitude.

I chose The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin. I am very familiar with it because I did a project on it, so I will be able to explain it in greater detail than if I had chosen another story. It was quite enjoyable and informative, too, so I find it interesting to discuss. The Autobiography is about Franklin’s journey to become a better person. He originally wanted to become perfect, but he was never able to achieve this goal.

Censorship can affect everyone in the world in many different ways. In the case of the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, it has a negative effect on the city. The government banishing the books from society is taking away the power of knowledge from the people. Knowledge is a way of power and with that, the more knowledge one has the more power they will have. This is also the case in slavery in the U.S in the 18th century. Information is key to a humans life and it build their life. An example is the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” Information is power and if it is taken away from someone their power goes with it.

Many people rely on the opinions of others, never truly stopping to personally consider the subject at hand. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an impactful American writer, wrote a piece entitled Self- Reliance. In Self-Reliance, Emerson’s purpose is to promote ideas of individualistic thinking. Emerson uses strong, rhetorical strategies, such as figurative language, allusions, and complex syntax and parallelism to effectively persuade his audience to trust their own thoughts.

Near the beginning of his renowned essay, "Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau appeals to his fellow citizens when he says, "...I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government." This request serves as a starting point from which the rest of "Civil Disobedience" emerges. Thoreau 's essay is particularly compelling because of its incorporation of rhetorical strategies, including the use of logos, ethos, pathos, purposive discourse, rhetorical competence and identification. I will demonstrate how each of these rhetorical techniques benefit Thoreau 's persuasive argument.

Renowned American- writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay, “Nature” reflects the true beauty of nature, he proposes the idea that we become careless towards nature we lose our sense of wonder. Emerson’s purpose is to express the miracle of reality. He inspires a sense of wonder to convey to his readers that nature is far more beautiful than we think, how unappreciative we become. Through the use of influential language Emerson’s emotional appeal is strengthened, his use of logic aids his argument to help sway the reader to be more appreciative of nature as well as connected to it.

When one lives in self-reliance and protest against the general state of spirituality they would be called a Transcendentalist. A movement in the 1820s to 1830s really brought attention to this. Authors like Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and even a popular film called Dead Poets Society. When one is in this state of self-reliance and Transcendentalism they will usually find happiness in themselves before anyone else. They will follow the steps of Emerson in “Self-Reliance”, Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience”, and the theme of the film Dead Poets Society. Within the writings of these authors there are both benefits and consequences of living self-reliant and “sucking the marrow out of life”.

Books have always been an alternate world to escape to and learn more about the world around you. But that’s a privilege some do not have. In Fahrenheit 451, books and burned at all costs and in The Book Thief, Liesel must steal to be able to read and learn about the world. Within both texts, books play a vital role. In The Book Thief, books provide hope, education, and escape while in Fahrenheit 451 books provide knowledge and freedom.

Reading is such an important part of life. If you can’t read, you might as well be mute. How could you ever express yourself? Your ideas, your emotions, and passion? Malcolm X (who was, at the time imprisoned.) he “expressed being frustrated with his inability to express himself clearly.” (Malcom X 640) He was envious of Bimbi’s complete literacy and wanted to imitate that knowledge. When he tried to read, the words to him were an enigma. With him only being able to decipher a couple of words. What did he do then? Give up and deny himself knowledge? He found a dictionary, where he then wrote and memorized every definition in the book, building himself and his vocabulary up.