Commentary On The Rhetoric Of Fiction Essay

According to Richard Lanham, Rhetorical Man is identified as actor whose sense of identity depends on the support of “daily histrionic reenactment.” I see this kind of person as lively as well as dramatic. By identifying as an actor, Rhetorical Man, I assume, can adjust themselves to any ‘character’ they put on. This is not to say that they do not have their own characteristic. They do. However, their nature selves are not rigid. They are fluid to adapt to the situation they have. Moreover, this person is believed not to dwell in a single value structure for they have several which change constantly. Therefore, they occupy a complex and dramatic reality. Rhetorical man is also perceived as an explorer of resources.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his bold novel, The Scarlet Letter tackles a variety of themes that include: sin, guilt, redemption, postfeminism, and organized religion's abuse of power. Hawthorne spoke in a somber and grim tone, designed to arouse a sense of suspense for his readers. The audience in which he was addressing would have been conservative Christians and women suffragettes, all of whom reflected the ideologies during this time period. By instilling clever diction, Hawthorne exposes hypocrisy in Puritanism and objects against the religion's superfluous punishments; which force individuals to endure unnecessary and extreme suffering.

The circumstances in which this passage takes place is obviously the time after Hassan's rape, in which the guilt is killing is torturing Amir and he is has realized that the choices that he made that day has truly hurt more people than he could've ever imagined. A metaphor that I found that led me to believe this would be him saying, ". . . the monster in the lake". I think that this metaphor represents the moment in which Amir has begun to acknowledge that he is the person that unintentionally is causing the ones around him to suffer with his selfish actions, the monster. Another metaphor that I found would be, "I was the snake in the grass". This metaphor represents Amir seeing that the people who are around him get hurt by him unexpectedly. Think of Amir as obviously the snake hiding within the grass and he's the predator. Hassan would be the prey

The advertisement by WWF uses rhetorical strategies such as an establishment of ethos, and an appeal to logos and pathos. WWF establishes ethos by being a world wildlife program who “is at work in more than 40 countries...and collaborating with governments and coastal communities,” which demonstrates their credibility. They appeal to logos by offering statistics such as that “ten million people in sub-Saharan Africa make a living fishing,” and that the “number of fish in their waters has declined by 50 percent.” By offering these concrete numbers and statistics, WWF establishes a logical advertisement. Pathos is appealed by this advertisement by including phrases such as “Protecting the Future of Nature”, “protect marine populations,” and “ensure

Faulkner, in his sports essay, describes the actions of hockey in order to convey the excitement derived from playing the sport. He successfully achieves this portrayal of action and excitement by his deliberate use of syntax and imagery.

In the movie Remember the Titans Coach Boone gives a speech on the battle ground of Gettysburg. Coach Boone was hired and made head coach over the nominated Hall of Fame Coach Yoast. Racial tensions were building between team members because their school, T.C. Williams became integrated. His team of football players had a problem with open prejudice and hostility between the black and white players. After a day of bad practice, Coach Boone took his team out for a run in the middle of the night through the forest to deal with the issue. When the players were finally given a chance to breathe they realized that they were at the Civil War battle ground of Gettysburg. He utilizes his strong demeanor and gives a speech

The short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate O’Flaherty Chopin is about a young woman who is told of her husband’s death and how, in one hour, her life was changed forever. Kate’s life was in some ways similar to that of Mrs. Mallard’s, I believe her true feelings were reflected in her many writings.

The speech “The Danger of a Single Story” narrated and written by Chimamanda Adichie is a series of overlapping stories and thoughts predominately discussing prejudice around the world. Though it is not our fault that we are only shown a single side of a topic, what we are exposed to is usually biased or lacking in full detail. Many people use what media may say or what they hear around them about a subject to make up their resolved opinion on the matter. Adichie's argument is effective because she overturns all that established knowledge and presents unique views on old ones to create an open minded take on the issue; moreover, Adichie uses humor, significant life experiences, and typical day-to-day discrimination to support her argument.

Additionally, King builds his credibility with the utilization of ethos in his text in order to convince them of his argument. By appealing to the readers’ ethics, they can see how trustworthy King’s words are and then can let themselves be persuaded by his matter-of fact tone and professionalism in writing. King is a realist, which means that he almost always represents things as they really are, which profoundly helps establish his honest persona. Most of Stephen King’s writing represents more than one tenet, as his stories that he tells about his childhood and road to recovery from drug addiction and alcoholism can be seen as not only pathos, but and etho as well, as these stories help the readers to understand what kind of person he is, and how he accomplished all of his success despite a couple of major roadblocks. This is why it can be seen that King uses pathos most heavily in his writing, by telling vivid stories, etc. in order to touch upon human emotion towards human experiences/traits, while also creating a strong voice in his writing as well. The overlapping of these appeals help support the ethics and sensibility of King’s work. There are scores of times where it can be clearly identified where ethos have been used in his writing. For example, King says “I’m a slow reader, but i usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, mostly fiction. I don't read in order to study the craft; i read because i like to read.- Similarly, I don't read to study the art of fiction, but simply because I like stories-Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (King, pg 145) This helps to support the idea that writing is learned through reading, and also is learned through the mistakes of other writers. There is no better way to learn than to look at a piece of writing that has some minor or even major flaws and to analyze the piece to see what the issue is, and learn from their mistake to better your own writing in the future. Another one of King’s main arguments is that no writer is perfect. There are always things that you can do to make your writing even better, no matter how small the adjustment may be. It’s a learning process

In his essay “offensive play” Malcolm Gladwell explains that dogfighting and football are similar and different Gladwell purpose is to declare in order to show football players and dogfighting are similar.Gladwell addresses his essay to sports enthusiasts by using ex former football players for example michael vick.Gladwell also uses medical terms to inform doctors or people.Gladwell develops this argument by using logical health problems,by using examples of formal players that got severely injured because they had to finish the game,by using quotes from players,by using imagery throughout the essay and also using comparison with dogfighting and football.

In Holly Wren Spaulding’s essay, “In Defense of Darkness,” her main claim is that we have fallen away from darkness and immersed ourselves in a society of lightness. Furthermore, she claims this has lead humans to lose touch with basic human emotion as well as the sensual and spiritual experience true darkness has to offer. Spaulding makes this claim evident through exceptional use of personal testimony and copious appeals to value.

In his essay “On the Scarlet Letter,” D.H. Lawrence criticizes Hester’s immoral behavior for her adulterous actions. Lawrence views her as a shameful member of Puritan society and centers his argument on her sin and its effects on the story’s plot. D.H. Lawrence’s use of different literary techniques strengthens his claim that Hester is not the heroine through his sarcastic tone, abrupt syntax, and biblical allusions.

A Deeper Meaning to Fiction People have been reading fiction from the earliest points of their lives, but fiction has a deeper meaning that people continue to want as they grow: the feeling of significance. Robert Penn Warren claims in his paper, “Why Do We Read Fiction?” that fiction gives the reader a feeling of significance. Warren believes that fiction can fill a person’s wants and desires. Is Robert Penn Warren’s claim that fiction makes us feel significant in our everyday lives accurate?

Out of all the books read through this course, perhaps the one that I was most interested to read was The PLAIN Janes. Yes, admittedly, part of that excitement came from the fact that it as a graphic novel and that would make it easier, and possibly more exciting, to read than any of the other 200 or so page books that were on the reading list. However, another part of the excitement came from the fact that it was a graphic novel itself – that a story was being told in pictures, and that I would have a direct visualization of the characters and the setting that they exist in. This is one of the universal advantages of a graphic novel – it gives the authors the ability to illustrate their story exactly how they see fit; and without

There are many ways to supplement a story in order to add lucidity. It is done through literary devices and Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" is no different. "The Things They Carried" is a narrative about a soldier at war in Vietnam. However, this story provides multiple layers of meaning through O'Brien's tone and style that help the reader further understand it. Both of these literary devices are embedded in the story and gradually help define it.