Rhetorical Analysis Of Zombie Outbreak

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Rhetorical Analysis of a Self Made Project

The Project;

Zombie Outbreak: The End is near

This essay intends to view the significance of rhetoric through analyzing an article to establish its effectiveness on relaying an intended massage to a target audience. The chosen message is a newspaper article in the New York Times that reported on the ever chilling and controversial concept of Zombie apocalypse. Zombie tales are phenomenal in many cultures and carry with them a chilling air to the audience especially when presented in a masterly diction of rhetoric. The renowned film maker George Romero opened a new chapter of how we conceptualize Zombie. The intrinsic dilemma in

the human mind has been could zombies become a reality? The latest reported cases indicate that the answer is yes owing to the authoritative information that over 300 cases of zombie related symptoms had been detected in California. On a lighter note The Center for Disease Control verified it as a parasitic contagion.
All together, the report on zombie cases in California have continued to rise and the situation is creating tremendous concern.

According to the report a writing professor at University of California named Kat Eason Irvine became infected by a parasite. The lady ate her students and the entire campus became a zombie zone. Further reports indicated that epidemic spread to San Diego and Los Angeles and is now headed towards San Francisco. Zombies are believed to predate over humans who once bitten by zombies they turn into zombie. Zombies are believed to be immortal thus continues to bite humans and not until they are shot in the center of the head that they die. As a result the cycle may generate a region of zombies which would eventually hamper a great threat to

humanity.
Zombie is an underworld Haitian word pronounced as Zonbi which depicts a dead person whose body is reincarnated to life through the powers of a witch master. The witch master is believed to manipulate the mind of the reincarnated person by means of witchcraft. Scientific research in regard to the underworld Haitian culture has not yielded substantial prove though Haitian cultural records attests to the existence of Zonbi practices. The American version proves that Zombies are real, and as per the California report the zombie apocalypse is here with us. The general population in America is frightened yet it is not ready to counter zombie apocalypse. The American government is equally perplexed probably owing to the complexity of the issue thus, it is imperative to sensitize the general populace on the situation on the ground. Speed is essential and modalities have to be enacted fast enough to save life.

Rhetorical Analysis
The authorship of the zombie apocalypse is not only persuasive but it is a display of a masterly diction in genre of horror fiction. The genre of horror fiction as applied in this context achieves the writers intended objective of rhetorically creating tension, dread and an anticipatory mood to the audience. Rhetoric, most simplistically means the technique in which an audience is persuaded for a given purpose. The zombie apocalypse is a farfetched idea but through rhetoric the point is gradually delivered to the audience (Tchuenche, & Chiyaka, 2009). Rhetoric is used in everyday life especially when the rhetor intends to drive a point home. For purposes of clarity the rhetor is the person who performs the rhetoric for instance, the author of Zombie Outbreak narrated above is the rhetor. A rhetor could be a painter, podcaster, speaker, writer, or a photographer (Jim and Andrew, 2001)
A rhetor could be informative positively or negatively, for instance politicians, lawyers, advertisers, make use of rhetoric to belabor their messages. When the newspaper writer as in our case attempts to convince us of the prescience of zombies in California the writer is using rhetoric. The author of Zombie Outbreak uses a set of deliberate and well considered decisions for the purpose of convincing the audience that zombies are real and are a threat. Historically, rhetoric was used in speechmaking and oratory arena but today rhetoric is used to insinuate the use of art of persuasion through any medium (Jim and Andrew, 2001).
For rhetoric to function amicably in any form of persuasive scenario it has to have three main segments which includes the rhetor, the audience and the purpose. As earlier informed the author of Zombie Outbreak is the rhetor, the people that the rhetor addresses (Americans) are the audience and eventually, the message that the rhetor intends accomplish with the audience is the purpose. The three variables of the rhetorical triangle are generally interdependent from each other, but for rhetoric to be termed as successful, each of them must harmonize with the other two. The purpose must be fitting to the rhetor as much as the rhetor is positioned to achieve with the audience. In the same way the audience must be fitting to the rhetor and his purpose. Eventually, the rhetor has to be fitting for the purpose as well as the audience (Borchers, 2006).
Back to the Zombie Outbreak article the author (rhetor) has the American populace who read articles they are the rhetor’s audience the author must ensure that the article he writes is appealing and wins more readers, that that is the purpose. As stated there should be a correlation between the three mentioned variables rhetor, audience and purpose. The readers of the article must fit within the context of the article for the author to win substantial readers. Therefore the author must write articles that are convincing to the reader in order to have more people reading the article. As a result the rhetoric triangle cycle is completed and the purpose, rhetor, and audience concept would be harmonized.
The rhetorical triangle engulfing the rhetor, purpose and audience is further engulfed by other immediate rhetorical circumstances in other words referred to as context.

Context involves factors beyond the immediate rhetorical circumstances that shapes the rhetoric and establishes the extent to which rhetoric succeeds or not. These external factors include but not limited to broader cultural and historical dynamics. Context is held within the confines of “appropriateness” that are acceptable in a targeted culture. For instance, it is worth evaluating how comparable rhetorical situations have fared in the past, thus predict how they are supposed to be addressed now or in future. Appropriateness determines what counts as successful persuasion within a rhetorical circumstance. Context also endears to capture an opportune moment in order to be appropriate. Thus the context should fall squarely within the nick of time in order to gain a timely argument (Borchers,

2006).
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Irrespective of the fact that all the basic rhetorical situations remain unchanged that is audience, purpose, and rhetor the timing of applying rhetoric is a determining factor as to whether it will succeed or fail. For instance, the author of Zombie Outbreak took the opportune time to address the zombie issue when the populace was experiencing zombie mania. Thus, the rhetorical circumstance within which the author writes bears a conducive environ to belabor the zombie article with all due success. The simple fact that renowned film maker George Romero introduced a new epoch of zombies existence gives the author of Zombie Outbreak outright credence to report the issue of zombies owing to good timing and appropriateness which has been viewed as integral in rhetoric (Black, 1980).
Moreover, rhetoric thrives within three tactics namely ethos, pathos, and logos that are used when persuading a target audience and are referred other rhetorical appeals. To begin us let us view logos appeals which are components of a message that submit to a purported fact, reason or logic. Often, Logos appeals are dependent on appeals to statistics. For instance, author of Zombie Outbreak outlines a datum that reflects on severity of the Zombie disease outbreak in California “There were only 3 reported cases of zombie-like symptoms in humans before 2017, and +300 cases in the past month only in California”. These statistics are used by the author to make a logos appeal that there exists documented records that zombies are actually in California. Logos, according to etymology is linked to the English word logic. Thus to sum up, a logos appeal is used by the rhetor to induce a sense to the audience that whatever is presented bears logic.
Pathos appeals are components of a message that are intended to fool around on human emotion, passion, compassion or desire. For instance, author of Zombie Outbreak appeal to the reader’s fears of a zombie attack. Thus, pathos is used by the rhetor to motivate the audience state of mind by consolidating values and beliefs which will eventually propel the audience to action. The author of Zombie Outbreak considers the fact that readers have already developed values and beliefs towards zombies and would not take the Zombie Outbreak for granted. The use of pathos in this instance remarkably stirs the readers’ emotional response towards taking action thus enhancing control of Zombie Outbreak. The literal meaning of Pathos is what befalls one, and in etymology it relates to passion, pathetic, or apathy (Black, 1980).
Ethos appeals are components of a message that refer to the credibility and authority of the rhetor. As a matter of fact an audience conceptualization of apparent trustworthiness towards the rhetor makes the audience to believe the rhetor’s message. For instance, author of Zombie Outbreak presents the zombie issue candidly thus commanding authority that the author is qualified to report on zombies. Secondly, the author is well connected to the audience thus, that believe in the message. Principally, ethos is transparent thus when the author of Zombie Outbreak tell readers how a zombie attack looks like they would implicitly presuppose that the author knows what the subject entails. The author has consolidated substantial ethos in the mind of the reader and appears as sense informed, savvy, reliable, and ethical. On the contrary, if the Zombie Outbreak story was reported by Tom, Dick or Hurry the audience would question their authority or expertise. The literal meaning of Ethos is disposition and in etymology it relates to ethics or morals (Black, 1980).
As a parting comment, the article on Zombie Outbreak carried in the New Yolk Times commands the authority of a documentary that meets the fundamental rules of a rhetorical commentary. On the other hand the article as analyzed in this essay is confined within the ever delicate genre of horror fiction, kudos to the author.