Rhetoric

1. Rhetoric The art of argument and persuasion

2. What is Rhetoric? • “an ability, in each [particular] case, to see the available means of persuasion” -Aristotle • Rhetoric is the means by which speakers and writers influence states of mind and actions in other people • Contemporary Rhetoric is characterized by public speaking and composition

3. Aristotle • We might call him the “Father of Modern Rhetoric” • He wrote The Art of Rhetoric, in which he defined rhetoric as, “a theoretical system for discovering the available means of persuasion on a given topic.” • Aristotle based his system on “proof”

4. Proof • Proof, to Aristotle, was not factual evidence that led to an incontrovertible conclusion • Proof consists of the appeals that speakers make to the audience as reasons for accepting the claim • Over the centuries, factual evidence has become much more available than it was in Aristotle’s day; however, these appeals have become recognized as “rhetorical proofs” • Rhetorical proofs are used today to construct arguments

5. Analyzing and Constructing Arguments • An argument is defined as text that makes a claim and supports it fully • To analyze an argument, to decide whether it fully supports its claim, we must identify the basic appeals: • Emotional appeals, ethical appeals, and logical appeals or Pathos, Ethos, and Logos

6. Types of Rhetorical Proof (Appeals) • Ethos-character. A speaker or writer has to project a good character to audiences to be more believable • Pathos-emotion. Emotion can be a powerful proof in language because it circumvents reason • Logos-logic. This is the information, the facts, common knowledge, or statistics

7. Elements of an Argument

8. Elements of an Argument applied to Sex-Education

9. Elements of an Argument applied to “A Modest Proposal”

10. SOAPS • To help you understand an argument consider SOAPS • Subject-general topic, content, and ideas • Occasion-time and place • Purpose-reason for the argument • Speaker-identity of the voice within the text • This will help you to understand how the interaction among speaker/writer and reader/audience, and the subject determine the form an argument will take

11. Ways to break down an Argument • Toulmin Model: • Because _____________, therefore _______________, since ________________. • Graff Template: • The general argument made by author X in his/her work, _________, is that ________. More specifically, X argues that ___________. She/He writes, “____________.” In this passage, X is suggesting that _________. In conclusion, X’s belief is that ________________. • X is wrong/right, because _______________. More specifically, ____________. For example, ___________. Although X might object that ______________, it can be maintained that _____________. Therefore, one can conclude ______________.

12. Creating a Thesis (Claim) • Start with an arguable statement • It should seek to convince readers of something, to change their minds, or to urge them to do something • It should address a problem that has no obvious or absolute solution or answer • It should present a position that readers can have varying perspectives on • Good Example: Video games lead to violent behavior. • Bad Example: Video games earn millions of dollars every year.

13. Creating a Thesis (cont.) • Once you have created an arguable statement, you are ready to move on to a thesis. • Attach at least one good reason to your arguable statement • You now have a working thesis • Example: • Arguable statement: Pesticides should be banned • Reason: because they endanger the lives of workers • Thesis: Because they endanger the lives of workers, pesticides should be banned.

14. Audience

15. Example of Student Argument Essay Devastating Beauty Collarbones, hipbones, cheekbones—so many bones. She looks at the camera with sunken eyes, smiling, acting beautiful. Her dress is Versace, Gucci, or Dior, and it is revealing, revealing every bone and joint in her thin, thin body. She looks fragile and beautiful, as if I could snap her in two. I look at her and feel the soft cushion of flesh that surrounds my own joints; then I look away and wonder what kind of self-discipline it takes to become beautiful like this. By age seventeen a young woman has seen an average of 250, 000 ads featuring a severely underweight woman whose body type is, for most people, unattainable by any means, including extreme ones “such as anorexia, bulimia, and drug use”, according to Allison LaVoie (par. 4). The media promote clothing, cigarettes, fragrances, and even food with images like these, and the women in these images are a smaller size than ever before. “In 1950, the White Rock Mineral Water girl was 5’4” tall and weighed 140 pounds; now she is 5’10” tall and weighs only 110 pounds, signifying the growing deviation between the weight of models and that of the normal female population” (Pipher 184). This media phenomenon has had a major effect on the female population as a whole, both young and old. Five to ten million women in America today suffer from an eating disorder related to poor self-image, and yet advertisements continue to prey on insecurities fueled by a woman’s desire to be thin. Current estimates reveal that “80 percent of women are dissatisfied with their appearance” and “45 percent of those are on a diet on any given day” (“Statistics”). Yet even the most stringent dieting will generally fail to create the paper-thin body so valued in the media, and continuing efforts to do so can lead to serious psychological problems such as depression.

16. While many women express dissatisfaction with their bodies, they are not the only victims of the emaciated images so frequently presented to them. Young girls are equally affected by these images, if not more so. Eighty percent of girls under age ten have already been on a diet and expressed the desire to be thinner and more beautiful (Slim Hopes). Thus from young age, beauty is equated with a specific size. The message girls get is an insidious one: in order to be your best self, you should wear size 0 or 1. The pressure only grows more intense as girls grow up. According to results from the Kaiser Family Foundation Survey “Reflections of Girls in the Media,” 16 percent of ten-to-seventeen-year-old girls reported that they had dieted or exercised to look like a TV character. Yet two-thirds of teenage girls acknowledged that these thin characters were not an accurate refection of “real life” (qtd. In Dittrich, “Children” pars. 2-3). It is tragic to see so much of the American population obsessed with weight and reaching an ideal that is, for the most part, ultimately unattainable. Equally troubling is the role magazines play in feeding this obsession. When a researcher asked female students from Stanford University to flip through several magazines containing images of glamorized, super-thin models, 68 percent of the women felt significantly worse about themselves after viewing the magazine models (qtd. In Dittrich, “Media” par. 16). Another study showed that looking at models on a long-term basis leads to stress, depression, guilt, and lowered self-worth (qtd. in Dittrich, “Media” par. 19). How can we reject images that are so harmful, especially to young women? Perhaps the most effective way to rid the print medium of emaciated models and eliminate the harmful effects they cause is to mount a boycott. If women stopped buying magazines that target them with such harmful advertising, magazines would be forced to change the kinds of ads they print. Such a boycott would send a clear message: women and girls reject the victimization that takes place every time they look at a skeletally thin model and then feel worse about themselves. Consumers can ultimately control what is put on the market: If we don’t buy, funding for such ads will dry up fast.

17. Works Cited Dittrich, Liz. “About-Face on Children and the Media.” About-Face. 2 Feb. 2003. Web.10 Mar. 2005 ---. “About-Face Facts on the Media.” About-Face. 2 Feb. 2003. Web. 10 Mar. 2005. LaVoie, Allison. “Media Influence on Teens.” The Green Ladies. Web. 11 Mar. 2005