RHETORIC

I think we all came into this class with some questions, maybe even some misunderstandings about what rhetoric actually is. I must say, I had my own reservations. From high school on, I had been taught of this mysterious word that seemed to play such a huge part in the human language and in argumentation. Yet, for some reason, it could never be pinned down in the terms I needed to understand it and all it entailed.

This class has helped to clarify some of those terms, though I’ve come to realize that one definition or theory is not sufficient by itself. (Or, at least it hasn’t been for me.) Each theorist has often brought his own sense, his own idea, of the word. Sometimes perspectives have been very similar in thought or theory but have had slight twists. (Of those I have understood, this has been the case.)

I think one of the most significant things I have learned concerning rhetoric are its types and how they should be implemented within the context or situation in which rhetoric exists. We often associate rhetoric with a particular type of context. However, I have learned that this context exists is vast realms; speeches are only one venue of its application. Commercials, even comics, can manipulate and exhibit distinct forms of rhetoric just as well as political debates.

I have had a number of classes in which it has been necessary to understand how to develop an argument—a good one at that. I had always associated rhetoric with speaking, but I have come to learn that its strategies can be just as vital in writing. Understanding how to establish a sense of ethos, logos, and pathos, can influence a good paper as well as control and formulate a good speech. I hope to carry this knowledge on to other classes and use its tactics to expand my writing capabilities.