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Elements of rhetoric
Essays on rhetoric
The importance of rhetoric
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In this excerpt from Moonwalking With Einstein, Foer uses relatable examples and contrasting diction to persuade the audience of the natural brilliance of the human mind without the complexities of modern day lifestyles. Foer addresses the common business man/woman who is required to recall “word-for-word instructions from their bosses” as well as the average high school student who has been enrolled in “the Advanced Placement U.S. history curriculum” in order to provide an example that resonates with the general population. Foer’s specific examples aids the reader in remembering the struggles that modern humans deal with. This effective targeting has an impactful appeal on the audience by forcing them to recall emotions related to the stated
experience. In conjunction with his examples, Foer uses diction like, “ubiquitous”, “evolved”, “contemporary”, and “information age”, to describe the modern age which is contrasted by words such as, “hominid” and “ancestors” that refers to the beginnings of mankind. This stark difference in time periods is helpful in explaining that effective use of the mind lends itself vulnerable to disuse with the gradual passing of time
Advertisements are constructed to be compelling; nonetheless, not all of them reach their objective and are efficient. It is not always easy to sway your audience unless your ad has a reliable appeal. Ads often use rhetoric to form an appeal, but the appeals can be either strong or weak. When you say an ad has a strong rhetorical appeal, it consists of ethos, pathos, logos, and Kairos. Advertisers use these appeals to cohere with their audience. Nike is known to be one of the leading brands of the sports shoes and apparel. It holds a very wide sector of followers around the world. In the Nike ad, Nike uses a little boy watching other basketball players play, and as the kid keeps growing, his love for basketball keeps growing. Eventually, he
Edward O. Wilson, the writer of this satire, writes about the opinions of two disagreeing sides to demonstrate the unproductive nature of these litigations. To do this, the author writes in a horatian manner and uses instances of exaggeration, parody, incongruity, and irony to help him convey his message that these arguments are pointless. The well distributed use of these strategies allows the writer to efficiently illustrate and mock the unproductive disagreement of these two groups of people.
Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking is a multi-faceted character and person. Her opinions on equality, racism, governmental and justice systems are cultivated and intellectual, truly brought forth in her writing. In this first chapter, Prejean begins her journey of understanding the corrupt systems of government, and their unjust practices such as the death penalty, through this she seeks to help those affected by the unjustness of the systems. Her use of logos, pathos, and ethos through strategies such as presenting statistics, descriptions of memories and explanations of religious ties help her opinion become prominent throughout the chapter.
Joshua Foer’s “The End of Remembering” and Kathryn Schulz’s “Evidence” are two essays that have more in common than one might think. Although on two totally different topics, they revolve around the central point of the complexities of the human mind. However, there are some key elements both writers have contemplated on in differing ways. A vital difference between Foer’s essay and Schulz’s essay is the overall thesis. Foer uses a comical tone throughout his essay to get readers to realize just how dependent society has become on external means rather than ourselves.
In conclusion, it is through these contradictions between history and memory that we learn not to completely rely on either form of representation, due to the vexing nature of the relationship and the deliberate selection and emphasis. It is then an understanding that through a combination of history and memory we can begin to comprehend representation. ‘The Fiftieth Gate’ demonstrates Baker’s conclusive realisation that both history and memory have reliability and usefulness. ‘Schindler’s List’ reveals how the context of a medium impacts on the selection and emphasis of details. ‘The Send-Off’ then explains how the contradiction between memory and history can show differing perspectives and motives.
When discussing the impact of memory on daily life, Foer explains that “the average person squanders about forty days a year compensating for things he or she has forgotten… everyday there seems to be more to remember…with a memory like Ben Pridmore’s I imagined life would be more qualitatively different--and better”(MWE page 7). This point highlights how important memory truly is. With a poor memory, we struggle with recalling even the simplest of observations and events. In addition, Foer uses confirmation to persuade the reader that having a good memory has positive effects on intelligence, noting that it would make him “…more persuasive, more confident, and in some fundamental sense smarter…” as well as a “better journalist, friend, and boyfriend”(MWE page 7). Finally, through Foer’s use of confirmation, we are brought to the realization that without memory, “our world would immediately crumble”(MWE page 19), especially in a situation where “all the world’s ink [becomes] invisible and all our bytes [disappear]”( MWE pade 19). Foer successfully defends his argument that without textual aids and external means of remembering information, we as a society would lose a vast amount of knowledge solely due to our inability to successfully retain memories. These three pieces of evidence effectively confirm Joshua Foers primary claim that memory is
Speeches are given for a purpose. Whether it is for persuasion, or education, or even entertainment, they all target certain parts of people’s minds. This speech, The Perils of Indifference, was given by Elie Wiesel with intention to persuade his audience that indifference is the downfall of humanity, and also to educate his audience about his conclusions about the Holocaust and the corresponding events. He was very successful in achieving those goals. Not only was the audience enlightened, but also President Bill Clinton, and the First Lady, Hillary Clinton, themselves were deeply touched by Wiesel’s words.
As a result of the successful mission that landed the first men on the moon, called the Apollo 11 mission, many people were inspired to provide commentary on this landing. Although these texts describe unique individual purposes about this landing, they all effectively support their purposes through the use of several rhetorical devices.
Tom Brokaw’s use of the stylistic element of imagery is one of his many methods of compelling the reader to understand that “the greatest generation” is, undeniably, great. His picturesque approach gives the reader a mental image of the great hardships that these heroes surmounted through their hard work and dedication.
There have been many historical events in history that have impacted America in many ways. For example, famous Speeches given by important people such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the united states which his main goal was to help America recover from the severe economic issues during the 1930’s. Roosevelt used rhetorical devices to persuade desperate Americans, wounded from the Great Depression, by introducing a plan which it will be the best way to recover from the severe crisis that affected Americans. In Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, he used personification, diction, and antimetabole to convey his conflicting feelings about the New Deal, in order to face the economic issues
In this passage, Mairs presents herself as a self-aware, tough, and capable person. She chooses to describe herself as a “cripple;” she feels that it is a “clean word, straightforward and precise.” Mairs uses rhetorical features such as simple, loose, and inverted sentences, repetition, zeugma, juxtaposition, and semantics, to advance her narrative.
In the book, The Future of Life, Edward O. Wilson has two passages that are satirizing the language of two different organizations opposing viewpoints about environmentalism. Wilson uses tone, appeal to pathos, and cause and effect to satirize the use of such discussions and how unproductive they can really be.
In his article “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”, which first appeared in the women’s magazine Ms. Magazine and later Harpers, Brent Staples explores the discrimination he faced as a black man living in Chicago and New York. In writing this piece, Brent Staples hoped to use a combination of pathos and ethos to demonstrate to the women that read Ms. Harper’s that Staples is actually the victim when the women treat him the way they do and to get these women to view him, and other black men, differently and to make them realize that they are people too. Staples use of his ethos and pathos serve well to support his position and convince others to take a new perspective. Staples uses ethos in multiple ways
Kegan, Robert. (1994). In Over Our Heads: The mental demands of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
“Every single comic fan has dreamed to be a superhero,” Mark Millar, creator of Kick-Ass comic states in his interview. Millar addresses the superhero fantasies that the intended audience of the superhero action comic and movie Kick-Ass sometimes marveled at (Multipleverses). Dave Lizewski, the main protagonist of Kick-Ass, has a similar dream to the comic’s audience; he also wants to become a superhero. Dave is an average comic lover that turns into a superhero without the qualities many of the iconic superheroes posses that follow the superhero conventions, such as “extraordinary power, skills and equipment” (Chopra). The audience is able to make more connections to Dave due to his realistic nature. Though Dave is a character with mundane abilities, he is still able to become a hero that helps others; he isn’t stop by his humanistic qualities. Aside from Dave’s inner ambition to be a hero due to the glamour created by his comics, he is also driven by his desire to help others. The passiveness of most characters in the story towards the violent filled world they live in forces not only Dave, but also Hit-Girl, and Big Daddy to break the ongoing cycle of indifference people have for each other. In an interview with Mathew Vaughn, the director of the Kick-Ass movie, he mentions, “In this society we live in, people don’t help each other anymore. There’s a time… a lot in the 60s, [that] if someone’s getting mugged, [others would] walk over and help” (Empire). By making Dave, Big Daddy, and Hit-Girl realistic character and distinctly different from the other characters and from the comic, Vaughn makes an ethical commentary through Kick-Ass that it doesn’t take extraordinary beings to assist others.