AP Lang: Rhetorical Analysis

The Rhetorical Triangle

According to Aristotle, rhetoric is defined as “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion”--- in any particular case, using whatever is going to work

Using language effectively to persuade, inform, education, or entertain
Rhetoric is always situational

The set of circumstances out of which a text (written or spoken) arises. Any time anyone is trying to make an argument, one is doing so out of a particular context, one that influences and shapes the argument that is made

What is Rhetoric

What is said (message)Who is saying it (speaker)Who is listening (audience)
Where I when it is being said (context, appeals)
How it is being said (tone, style)

Author Importance

The Author/Speaker
Gender/racial/geographical/socioeconomic/political orientation of author
Author Bias/hidden agenda
Other important biographical information may affect text

Audience

Hostile or sympathetic
How will they receive the message?
How will they affect tone? Style?
Who is the intentional audience? (You are NOT the intentional audience)Who is the unintentional audience?  (you are; pieces aren’t written for you; might accidentally become the audience)

The Message

What is the main point being made? In other words, what is the writer’s/speaker’s thesis?
Look at the message as an argument/position being sold to the audience. What is the author trying to convince the audience of?
Message: Concrete information

Purpose

Author’s intent
What does the author/speaker hope to achieve through his message
Abstracts that come out of the message
Implications
*Everything’s an argument; You always have to KNOW the purpose; Don’t talk about logos, ethos, and pathos

Tone

What is the author’s attitude about their subject/message
What words in the message let you know the tone?
How does the selection of the tone affect the audience’s reception of the message? Is it appropriate for the occasion/subject matter?
Caustic: Poisoning; meant burning- come to mean bitingly sarcastic or hurtful
Tone can only be created through diction

The Style

What strategies does the author employ in order to get his/her message across?
These strategies may include: ethos, logos, pathos; organization; diction;syntax; figurative language; grammatical structure; selection of details; imagery; source material (quotes) from an expert source
Don’t ever say: Author uses diction

Ethos

Established credibility and knowledge of subject
Ethics/morals

Pathos

Emotional appeal

Logos

Logical appeal
Statistics, facts, data

The Rhetorical Situation

Exigence
Audience
Author
Purpose
Context

The Exigence

The part of a rhetorical situation that inspires, stimulates, provokes, or prompts writers to create a text; what sparks us to act

The Rhetorical Context

Under what circumstances is the author addressing his/her audience?
In other words, what is going on in the world at the time this text was composed, and how do those events affect the text?
*Might not always know context

Rhetorical Techniques

Effective use of words to persuade or influence---PERSUADE
Includes THE CONSIDERATION of ethos, logos, and pathos (Don’t WRITE it ethos, logos, and pathos- not techniques; info about message and speaker and audience)
Don’t say: establishes credibility or provides a logical argument Includes FIDDS: Figurative Language, Imagery, Diction (Tone), details, structure (syntax), etc. ANYTHING that CREATES MEANING
Anything used to deliberately create effect

Rhetorical Analysis

What, How, Why
What is the writer doing? What are they doing to convey the purpose?
How does the author achieve purpose?
Why? Why did the author choose to convey the purpose in the manner that they do?

Elaborating on Analysis

HOW = What techniques does the writer choose to present the material?
WHY = Are the choices effective and appropriate for the intended audience
SO WHAT = What is accomplished or created

SOAPS

Speaker, Occasion (Context), Audience, Purpose, Subject (What is it about-objective): INTRODUCTION---Know them quickly!!!

Rhetorical Strategies-

What is the author doing (Verbs) to create meaning (ex. exemplifies, accuses, etc.)
Strategies: What the author DOES and HOW does the author do it
VERBS: THINK ONLY WITH VERBS DUDE
Ex. He narrates the concept a moment; so you don’t use device
talk actively of what the author’s strategies
What is the tool doing→ helps come up with the verb

Rhetorical Devices-

What tools is the author using (noun) to create meaning?
Statistics, anaphora (repeat), antithesis (counter/refutes/contrasts), alliteration  (repeat), antimetabole (structures), anecdote (narrates, tells, illustrates), Allusions (alludes), Zeugma

ANalysis:

Why the author chooses to do those things and use those devices for a particular purpose:
*don’t use Shows, use/employs/utilizes, don’t say audience or reader (MENTION SPECIFIC AUDIENCE DUDE, don’t just say AUDIENCE, don’t say the reader)
HOW did the rhetorical strategies/devices help the author achieve his/her purpose

Thesis: How to Write it

In the (Genre) (Title of the Piece), (Contextual Information about Author and/or TExt), (Author’s Name) (Rhetorical Choice 1), (Rhetorical Choice 2), (Rhetorical Choice 3) in order to___(Answer: What is the audience supposed to understand after experiencing the text?)___ultimately moving (insert audience) to ___(what is the audience supposed to do after experiencing the text)

Introduction

Put SOAPS in your introduction and follow this format:
First sentence = DRAMATIC and Hooks people (ex. MLK, champion of segregation, spent his life fighting for civil rights, but was assassinated. Once such an experience….) Speaker, Occasion and Subject
(Writer’s credentials) (writer’s first and last name) (In his/her type of text) (title of text) (strong verb) (writer’s subject)

Conclusion

How rhetorical strategies achieve the purpose → 2-3 sentences
Body Paragraph
Commentary (analysis) :
Commentary explains the significance and relevance of evidence in relation to the line of reasoning