Introductory Lecture: Unit 1
Framework, 2 Key Parts
Mr. Dale, AP Language
Part 1: Content Instruction
- Rhetorical situation
- Rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos)
Part II: Analysis of American Texts that are culturally representative.
- Unit 1: Colonial Period of American history.
Lecture 1: Rhetoric
Rhetoric, Rhetorical Analysis, and the Rhetorical Situation
(08/10/23)
What is Rhetoric?
Hauser: It is not communication for communication’s sake. It attempts to coordinate social
action at least implicitly and often explicitly. It always contains a pragmatic intent (pragmatic:
it is an action that attempts to solve a physical concrete problem). Rhetorical communications
try to solve a problem. Rhetoric starts with pragmatic goals.
- Step I of studying rhetoric is trying to understand the pragmatic intent, or the purpose.
Aristotle: Rhetoric is the “faculty of observing in any given case the available means of
persuasion.” The many ways of persuading someone is based on the situation.
Rhetoric/Rhetorical behavior is tied to situation. Rhetoric is situational and tactical.
- Step II of studying rhetoric is understanding how an argument and technique works
means you have to understand the situation.
Heinrichs: Rhetoric is the “art of influence", or “seduction” (the alignment of desires) that
attempts to achieve goals by altering an audience’s “mood,” “mind,” or willingness to do
something. Rhetoric is persuading your audience to want what you want., to align your desires.
- Step III: Rhetoric is about the creation of central action/consent/the manufacturing of
agreement.
- Persuading them without force or violence.
What is Rhetorical Analysis:
It is a disciplined observation and explanation of what a piece of rhetoric is attempting to
achieve (its pragmatic intent/purpose) and how (the document) achieves its goals/manufacture
consent.
What is Rhetorical Situation? (CESSAP/SOAP)
,Everything in the situation is devoted to the purpose.
- Context: the time, place, and occasion of the text. How the choices made in the text relate
to the context. Context shapes the message by offering the categories that people even
think of. There's no such thing as a good speech apart from context.
- Exigence: the element of the context that provokes/inspires the speaker to speak. The
specific problem that the speaker is trying to solve. Different problems necessitate
different kinds of tones and ways of the message is spoken about.
- Purpose: the WAY the problem will be solved.
- Speaker: Who the speaker is. The character of the speaker: This shapes the way a speaker
delivers a message. The speaker has to tailor a message by way of how the audience
already sees them. The speaker's identity affects messaging.
- Topic/Subject: Talk about different topics in different ways. Topic shapes messaging.
- Audience: Who the audience is what they value and believe. An effective message
connects to what an audience already believes and cares about. You have to tailor the
message to what the audience wants.
- Purpose: Different purposes require a speaker to shape either message in different ways.
What the speaker hopes to accomplish.
Different problems have different solutions, the nature of the problem shapes the way the
message is crafted.
How is the speaker adapting to achieve his or her goal?
OTN 1: Facebook Ad
Rhetorical Situation Analysis of “Facebook’s Facelift.”
(08/11/23) - (0?/14/23)
Rhetorical Situation of “Facebook’s Facelift”
Music, Images, Language, Guy’s voice, Switch in language.
AD: What Facebooks are supposed to be, what happened, how it’s gonna get fixed. They’re
characterized by cooperation as someone who cares about the problems. The atmosphere is
loving and calm, etc.
Context: Showed up on line in 2018. In 2018 Facebook got a lot of negative feedback. Facebook
Analytica Scandal would take personal data and sell it to other entities, mainly political
campaigns. They use your personal data as a profile for what you're interested in. The political
people sent fake news articles to people to shape their thoughts on political matters. Mark
Zuckerberg. Stock prices fell at the time. “Facebook traffic is down nearly 50% in 2 years'' The
platform was becoming more irrelevant. This ad was released in late April after Zuckerberg
went up to congress. Their users were not using facebook as much, traffic was down, stock price
was down and that was scaring facebook, threatening their entire business.
,Speaker: Facebook’s marketing team created this.
Subject: 1. What draws people to facebook. 2. What went wrong. 3. How the company is gonna fix
the problem.
Audience: The American public/consumers. They would be aware of the way Facebook had
changed in the actual app itself. The marketing team is using their users' lives and
acknowledging the users problem and saying they'll fix it. Facebook is banking on their users'
understanding of the fact there's a problem and not on their audience having a deep knowledge
of what that problem is. If you know too much the AD doesn’t work. If everyone knew
everything they'd have to change their messaging style.
Pragmatic intent: to convince their users that their product enriches their life and that Facebook
is there for you and that they empathize with any bad thing the audience has experienced. They
styled the ad to create the impression without telling you what they want you to feel and want.
Language: “We.” Facebook and their users are referred to as part of the same group. He talks
about what WE came to Facebook for. Why is this significant? It diminishes the distance
between the audience and themselves. Instead of talking about what YOU came to facebook for
and what they made, they talk about what WE came to Facebook for. This establishes a
connection between the speaker of the ad and the audience. This whole scandal has created
disunity and distrust, one way of melting that is to refer to the two groups that they're the same.
They talk about shared experiences. These Images depicts what facebook as a corporation is
trying to illustrate to you what they care about. Those are the elements of Facebook that dont
give them any profit. The creators of the ad characterize FB as a place where you can have many
things play out in your life. The images are relatable and nostalgic, reminding how facebook
helped record their lives. When the ad enters the second phase, what rhetorical choice does the
marketing team make? They describe the bad thing as “something that happened.” They keep
the language abstract. There is so who so there's no one to blame. The person responsible isn't
mentioned because it’s Facebook. To strengthen this impression, the speaker describes it as
something WE suffered. This is a way to say sorry without taking responsibility. They
acknowledge the problem but the language of the ad does not emphasize the fact that Facebook
is the reason for the problem. They express sympathetic remorse. Instead of saying sorry they
say, “I’m sorry about what happened to the US.” Facebook is characterized as someone who
acknowledges the problem and suffers with their users and is committed to heroically fixing
the product for their users. They suggest they'll fix it because they care about what you care
about. They Are characterized as problem fixers and heroes not doing their own self interest but
rather as disinterested (not self interested).
, OTN 2: Native Creation Myth
“Native American Stories and Arguments”
(08/15/23) - (08/??/23)
Text 1: “Earth on Turtle’s Back,” A Native American creation myth
CESSAP
Context: This story was an oral tradition. The onondagan tribe were from northern New York.
This text was produced and shared without much knowledge on scientific culture. They don’t
know much about scientific explanations of the world. Instead of giving physical explanations
it gives metaphysical explanations of phenomenons. This story represents and teaches (you're
now in the realm of religion and rhetoric). This represents a POV where the world came from
and teaches a way of life. This is a creation myth.
Exigence/Problem: The problem of passing on from one generation to the next, codes of life.
Speaker: An elder has probably told this story. The younger generation consumes these stories.
Pragmatic Intent/Purpose: To persuade the audience that collaboration according to one's nature
is necessary for survival.
What makes human life possible? Collaboration or working together. Working together
with the natural world/animal world. Why is this an important ethic in a tribal context?
Necessary for the survival of the tribe is collaboration, submission to your natural role, you
can’t just be what you wanna be.
Subject: Origins of the world
Audience: Younger generations
Genre: Creation story/myth. Genre choices matter as a rhetorical vehicle, they aren't to be
overlooked. They are chosen beforehand.
Notes:
1. Creation myths are narratives. Narratives are more memorable with younger people.
Narrative is more persuasive to this audience than just being straightforward.
2. It’s a creation narrative, a story about where the world came from and that makes the
message given, it frames the message, it makes it seem like it's essential and
fundamental, not to a certain problem but to all problems and all life.
- The speaker of this sort of story adopts a certain voice. The story is framed as
timeless and bigger than all of us. The way a story is told is rhetorical choice as
well.
3. The plot itself/the events and actions are structured to maximize the appeal of the story.
First, note that the problem of the story is that an accident happens (the woman falling).
