Burke Burke Burke and a little identification.

"Hi, My name is Alden Burley and I am a Clemson University student. I like sunny days, Bowman field and the color orange. I like my major because I think that I am good at it and when I graduate I hope to be able to support myself... now I would like to talk for a moment about human rights and how our campus reacts to crisis situations..."
This paragraph is an example of what Burke would call good rhetoric through identification. The majority of Clemson students would relate to the beginning of the paragraph. There are very few people reading this who would not identify with me. I introduced my speech by making my audience feel like they had something in common with me. It makes the audience seem smaller and the speech more intimate because I would probably say the same thing if I were speaking to only one person. Our textbook says that according to Burke, "identification is used to persuade at an unconscious level" (193). His argument was that all humans are separated simply because we live inside our individual bodies and minds. If we were to connect our minds to each other, in that moment we are not individuals anymore, we are a group that has something in common. This is the whole purpose of communication, to feel like we belong together. Remember the last time you had a conversation with someone who "didn't get you?" You probably went silent after a short time and went back into your own mind feeling pretty awkward. Now think of a time where you really connected with someone. You felt good and excited and wanted to talk more. This is the idea of identification. Burke also spoke of the words that the speaker gives identity to. If I were to introduce somenoe to someone else, I would describe each person with a trait, "This is my friend Billy from elementary school, Billy, this is Joyce from rehab." both of those defining features represents what I think is an important fact necessary to the furthering of the conversation. These defining features also form a level of expectation from that person. Billy for example would assumably be able to tell stories about me when I was younger. Joyce would know personal struggle stories about me. These are all Burke's ideas about identity in rhetoric.