Monday, August 29, 2011
Keywords in Rhetoric and Composition
What keywords do you see cropping up in our discussion of rhet/comp and the paradigms? In what ways do these ideas/terms manifest themselves in your daily lives? Draw on the readings and class discussions we've had from the week, but don't feel compelled to use all the keywords we've talked about. In your opinion, what are the keywords that are most central to the field and why?
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I see one of the main and key terms as being "audience". I think the audience is the most important key in any rhetoric situation because it is the most unpredictable factor in the makeup of a rhetoric situation. As one of the examples earlier today, if someone were to say, "How are you doing today?" and the other person replies "Terrible." Most people would think you are obligated to say, "Oh, why is that?" even though you don't care. But what you wouldn't expect is for the other person to just shrug and say nothing at all. But it could easily happen, just as easily as the audience member to say, "Oh really? You're about to feel a lot worse." and then start beating them to a pulp. In my opinion, audience is what a rhetoric situation relies on because if there is no audience, there is no rhetoric situation. A rhetoric situation does not even have to include two people. It can simply be one person and a series of events. That one person is the audience member. For example, if a person was by themselves in their living room eating a slice of pizza and they suddenly started choking on a wad of cheese, a rhetorical situation has occurred! They can choose to panic and breathe the cheese in even more and eventually choke to death, or they can try finding a chair and attempt to perform the Heimlech maneuver and dislodge the cheese. Either way, the person who ate the pizza was the audience member. If there was no audience member, the pizza would have sat on a counter and never been eaten or choked on and there never would have been a rhetorical situation.
ReplyDeleteOne of the key words that continue to come up in discussion is exigence. In my opinion this is one, if not the most important word that coincides with the rhetorical situation. As discussed in class on Wednesday, without an exigence a rhetorical situation would not exist. Weather the circumstances compel one to speak are significant or just plain ridiculous, one still chooses to speak. The human race is constantly scrutinized for their actions and appearances. The constant pressure of society often times causes us to stay silent and conform to those around us. However when a rhetorical situation stirs up enough emotion, these inhibitions are cast aside. I personally find it inspiring when one can put aside society and stand up for what they feel strongly about. Even Bitzer himself stated that if a solution or response, in this instance an exigence, is not produced as a result from a rhetorical situation, then that rhetorical situation is nonexistent. That is the very reason why I find exigence to be such an important subject not only within this class but also within life. It is no wonder why this term has popped up in our class materials and discussions so often.
ReplyDelete- Kristen C.
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ReplyDeleteThe keyword that is most central to the discussion of rhetoric and composition is the rhetorical situation. In Bitzer's "The Rhetorical Situation", he makes note that it is a "puzzling" concept because "situation" is not a term as closely related to rhetoric as "audience", "speaker" and "subject". Puzzling or not, however, the term "rhetorical situation" has to be addressed. The situation encompasses every facet of rhetorical discourse because it produces rhetorical discourse. According to Bitzer, the rhetorical discourse come into existence in response to the rhetorical situation much like an answer comes into existence in response to a question.
ReplyDeleteIn my daily life, I encounter rhetorical situations with potential exigences, constraints, and audiences. However, even though I may be aware of these situations, I do not always speak to produce a rhetorical discourse. In this way, rhetorical situations are still similar to questions: many may go unanswered.
The example given in class Wednesday made a lot of sense. A teacher/administrator may get fired. The termination becomes the rhetorical situation on which to bring change. A parent is moved to speak by the exigence and creates a rhetorical discourse with her audience, the school board. The rhetorical situation surrounds each and every day. It has significance in the field of rhetoric and composition.
There are two keywords that come up almost constantly in our readings of rhetorical situations and those are “speaker” and “audience”. Who is the speaker and who is the audience? Well that’s quite easy, when you say something to me, I’m your audience and I either enjoy what your saying or I dislike it. These keywords are manifested into daily life almost every single day, unless you don’t have friends or just aren’t friendly, but mostly all of us have conversations with someone whether it’s our best friend or the guy taking our McDonalds order. These are two keywords that I feel are the most important and central to this class because we all need our audience, just like we all need our stage, and in some ways the classroom is the perfect environment for an educated and knowledgeable audience, its just up to you if you want to be the speaker.
ReplyDeleteThe keywords that I have picked up the most from our readings and the discussion would have to be "exigence" and "audience". These are two of the three characteristics of the a rhetorical situation and for good reason. Exigence is when someone is compelled to speak on a need, that can be met. An audience is the people who actually have reason to be concerned with the exigence. I think that these key terms are the base of written or spoken text. These terms are also very prominent in our daily lives. For example, when the President is talking to our country about the economy, that is a direct response to the exigence created by the people. When the President's speech is being prepared, the speech writers have to know who the audience is going to be when the address is given. There is always an audience and when people are speaking on behalf of something, which is often, there is an exigence.
ReplyDeleteFor me, rhetoric and audience are the two most prevalent terms I see so far. Before this course, these terms weren’t something that I genuinely thought about, but as we discuss the subject matter, I’ve become more aware of them. Even though I’m still in the process of coming to terms with a concise definition for rhetoric, I find myself paying more attention to certain actions or occurrences that invoke specific phrases, words, or responses. The word audience is such a broad term and it encompasses anything from a friend to a room full of your classmates to yourself, though before now, I only associated the word with a crowd at a movie or concert. Rhetoric is definitely a key term for this class because it describes a process that we’re going to be using throughout this whole course. We’ll be writing several times a week, trying to encapsulate our thoughts and ideas, presenting them to an audience in a successful manner. That being said, an audience is a necessity for your text, written or otherwise. If there is nothing or no one to influence or to at least serve as a listener, then I feel composing a text would be all for naught.
ReplyDeleteTwo key words that I find appearing numerous times in the discussion of rhetoric are “readers and listeners.” Because rhetoric deals with words and phrases and how these words and phrases are used to reach the audience, it makes sense that “readers and listeners” are words that are often heard when dealing with this subject. Everyday, the majority of people are subject to becoming a reader and/or a listener. By accessing a wide variety of mediums, we are exposed to many situations in which we become an audience. For example, when watching television commercials, we become a listener. When viewing a billboard for a local advertisement, we become a reader. As a listener of television commercials or readers of advertisements, we are constantly being persuaded to purchase a certain product or dine at a certain restaurant all due to the rhetoric used in the commercial or advertisement. In our everyday lives whether it be as a listener or a reader, we become an audience. And just as we become an audience, there will always be a speaker using rhetoric to reach out to their audience. Whether it be through books, essays, speakers, or television commercials, rhetoric is a part of everyday life and is present even when we do not realize it.
ReplyDeleteFrom a purely objective standpoint in the study of rhetoric, I should respond to this blogpost with the major elements of rhetoric, such as the rhetorical situation, the exigence, the audience and constraints. However, the excerpts of our prescribed readings which interested me most, were the ones dealing with actually being a rhetor, perhaps because it is something I love to do. The five canons of rhetoric were the most fascinating to read about in Covine and Joliffe's "Introduction to Rhetoric." They were very accessible and comprehensive, but more than that I think they make the subject worthwhile; Because if all one is going to do with the incredible art of rhetoric is analyze the components of its existence and philosophically debate what is needed to create rhetoric, then one might as well color the world gray. Invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery are the words with which my focus has really centered on. Covine and Jolliffe do an excellent job defining and elaborating on the historical and perpetual importance of each canon. And although a comparatively much smaller amount of the essay is dedicated to the possibly expansive nature of each canon, the implications of each dedicated paragraph are enough to leave the reader knowing that conceptually these canons bear much more significance in the art than we may be possible of grasping.
ReplyDeleteOne of the key words I see being used frequently is 'text'. There seem to be a lot of different definitions for exactly what a text entails. One idea from the readings is that anything at all can be a text, even if it is only a simple word. Another believes that in order to have a true text there must be outside information that ties into it such as timing or climate. Another view is that perhaps it is necessary to know all the surrounding comments in order to have a comprehensive text. There seem to be so many different variations although I think personally I agree with the second option. Other key words I see often are 'reader' and 'listener'. There seems to be some sort of direct distinction between the two although I have had a little trouble pin pointing exactly what that is. The closest I feel I can get to it would be to say that a reader not only reads but also forms and opinion and states it (sometimes) whereas perhaps a listener does not. Either way I feel like the answer to both of these questions will become more evident as the class progresses.
ReplyDeleteThe two key words i have found to be the most renowned are rhetorical discourse/ text and exigence. Each word finds value intrinsically in the other; they cannot exist alone. The definition of exigence warrants or, more accurately, requires rhetorical discourse. Without these key words and there significance the 'rhetorical situation' would not exist. These terms are easily identified in our every day lives. Even the most basic interactions are rhetorical and are evoked by exigences: you don't want to go to a party by yourself and after asking your roommate, they respond with "i don't know," this comment incites you to then convince them to change their mind. The exigence is your roommates reluctance to join you in your endeavor which then would keep you from going to the party as well. True to its definition, an exigence would then induce rhetorical discourse. This would be be your attempts in persuading your roommate to change their mind. The two terms work hand in hand to create the foundation of the rhetorical situation and the professional field that acts on its behalf.
ReplyDeleteFrom the readings we've had over the past week, I feel that the words "audience" and "speaker" come up a lot, which makes sense if one thinks about it. Rhetoric is all about communication, and to have communication, there needs to be two participants: the person who is saying something, and the person who is listening. The level of communication present in our daily lives is at an all time high, whether we realize it or not. Every time you post something on Facebook, all (insert number here) of your friends can see what you wrote. When you go on Youtube and post a comment about how much you love Justin Bieber, everyone on the planet with internet access can see that comment. Our audiences vary minute to minute, depending on which form of social media we are using at the time, and it is important to keep that in mind. If you are on Twitter and you Tweet about "how drunk you got at so and so's party last week" only the people who are following you can see that, which generally is going to be fine. However, I know lots of people who link their Twitters to their Facebook accounts, where the may be friends with former teachers or their parents, who really don't want/need to know that sort of information.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, just as often as we are the speakers in our everyday lives, we are also the audiences, without even realizing it. We see all sorts of information that other people post, whether we know the person or not, whether they're a celebrity or a complete stranger. And every time we see some of that information, we must decided how to respond to it. If we re-Tweet/reblog/comment on said post, then we have once again become the speaker, and so on. Or, we could just read the information, think "Alright cool," or "Well that's dumb," and carry on with our lives. One interesting thing that I want to point out about our roles as the "audience" in every day life is that we get to CHOSE who speaks to us. If I really don't care about what's going on in the life of Kanye West, then I don't have to follow him on Twitter, or Like him on Facebook, and then, that information remains unknown to me. I just find it interesting how, in our society today, that if we say something, nearly anyone can see it, but we are able to specifically choose the information we receive from other people.
As the three main requirements for a rhetorical situation, I'm going to go ahead and say that exigence, audience and constraints are also the three main keywords on the topic. I'd never heard the word exigence before the reading, but just because a term is foreign does not mean that the concept has not always been there. Exigence is merely the appellation of this compulsion, previously known in life as a sort of moral conscience. The audience is the collective addressee in any situation, not just rhetorical ones. And constraints are any sort of hindering factors - such as the time constraints dictating the exact minute after which this blog post assignment may no longer be turned in for credit - which everyone is subjected through via school, their job, etc.
ReplyDeleteEven though all three of these keys are required for a rhetorical situation to be established, I feel that the primary component in ANY situation is the audience. A theatre troope performs their routine umpteen times in practice, but what makes the performance is the interaction of the audience with the show: the gasps of shock, the wild applause, etc. Not only does the audience supply the show aspect, but the troope practices with their expected audience in mind. Everything they do is planned out to exact specific responses from the crowd. In writing, and in everyday situations, the intended audience dictates most of the parameters for any situation. They can be considered the most important factor in any situation, but they are especially central to the Editing, Writing and Media field.
~erika higgins
Coming in to this class, I would say I had probably never thought about a rhetorical situation. Certainly, it is safe to say I had never thought about rhetorical situations take place in everyday life. However, even in the past few days (since reading Bitzer), I have begun to see more and more aspects of my life through this lens. While undoubtedly I don’t exclusively analyze my life using this paradigm, it has added a new, refined perspective on even the most simple and mundane actions.
ReplyDeleteTypically, my first assessment is of the rhetorical situation. For example, I had to work last night, that was the situation. The rhetorical exigence was that I was scheduled, and therefore had to go in and work my shift. The fact that no one picked up my shift for me and that I did not have a legitimate excuse for missing work were amongst the constraints that factored into the situation as a whole. Prior to this week, I confess I would have never seen my scenario in this light, considering the rhetorical situation, exigence, and constraints.
To be honest, I think it is pretty cool to be able to see aspects of my life in this new light and perspective. I could include several other examples just like the one of going in to work. Concerning my writing, I feel that using this paradigm when necessary can go a long way in improving my thought process. The more organically I see how language and rhetoric is prevalent in daily life, the easier it will be to translate that into what I write about.
-zac howard
I think writing has everything to do with the audience. The audience is the capstone to why writers write and speakers speak. The writer has to almost become a member of the audience that is targeted and as himself “why, does this matter to me?” Without the audience there would be no reason for an exigence and it is because of the audience that the constraints are taken into account.
ReplyDeleteDuring class on Wednesday I immediately thought about infomercials and how they try to prove to people their dire need for such and such a product, that their life will be so much better with ‘said product’. While the TV audience decides whether or not the product is worth buying because of the ridiculous amount of S&H they have to fork out (stands for Shipping and Handling…don’t worry ) the infomercial narrator begins to show how much easier every day life will be or how much happier the audience’s life could be with this product, which is generally a throne of lies. I use this example to show that the audience might not be the smartest but is indeed the most important part of the rhetorical situation – the other two stem from the audience. This is not to say that exigence and constraints are of little importance though because without them the audience would serve no purpose either. It is necessary to have all three of them. For instance, in the infomercial the need isn’t realized unless the voice tells the audience there is a need and the audience doesn’t realize how useful it will be without seeing how many constraints there are without the product. But in the end, there is really no need for what they sell on TV.
I wonder what county they ship those products from with $15.99 shipping and handling.
Brittany W. writes,
ReplyDeleteOne of the key words that I see being very useful is speaker. The speaker is the person who controls the audience. They also choose what rhetorical situation they are responding to and who the audience will be. Just from reading Bitzer, I have started to understand just what The Rhetorical Situation is. I also understand that it is everywhere you go and rhetorical discourse can result from almost any situation. It could be something large such as a war for freedom, or it could be because someone was upset that Papa Johns did not give them a side of garlic sauce with their pizza. No matter what the cause of the discourse, people are very passionate about what they want and they are compelled to speak, write, or complain about their issue. This again brings me back to my main word, speaker. After rhetorical discourse has given them an issue to complain about, they want people to agree with them. This leads them to attempt to convince people to be on their side. Again, this could be over something very meaningful to where people are going to have a different opinion and speak about that, or people could agree because they feel like it is the right thing to do. Either way that you look at it, the speaker controls a response from the audience. They can also choose to write a certain way if they want a controversial response or they can write differently for a more persuasive piece. Therefore, speakers are the most important part of the piece of work and one of the most important words.
Victoria writes:
ReplyDeleteThe keyword I picked up most from our readings and class discussion would have to be “exigence”. That is because it is very much the “inciting incident”, the catalyst, the cause of the effect. And without it, there is no rhetorical discourse or even a rhetorical situation at all. As Bitzer states in his essay, “it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be”, and therefore, if there is no exigence, there is no obstacle, no problem to solve, no situation to change. Exigencies are also so central to the discussion of rhetorical situations because they are the reason why there are so many different kinds of rhetorical discourses. This is because each varied exigence must each have its own “fitting” response, which Bitzer explains can be anything as simple as “throw the net” to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Exigencies like this constantly pervade our everyday life, they are completely unavoidable.
Brittany writes:
ReplyDeleteIn all of our discussions and readings thusfar, the term "audience" seems to come up the most. The audience is an extremely important part of any rhetorical situation. Without the audience, there would be no discourse for there'd be no one to hear/read what you've written. But a rhetor can't just convey his message to any audience. When rhetorical discourse is prepared, the audience is kept in mind by the rhetor. He or she has to know wht type of people the audience will be composed of, and how best to capture their attention and hold it. The rhetor has to know what buttons to push. When prepring rhetorical discourse, a rhetor always wants a particular audience, yet it's also the same audience that he or she wants to change. I've seen the audience manifested in my own life by being part of it as well as addressing it.
I think the term most applicable to my daily life would have to be rhetoric. Not going to lie, that might have something to do with the fact that I'm taking a course called Classical Rhetoric... But even pushing that aside, I feel as though the art of rhetoric is impossible to escape. Between school, work and church services I feel like I am constantly being talked at, not to, at. Meaning I hear a lot but I don't always get to say a lot. I find myself being the audience to many a-speeches or "calls to action" in all situations in my life. Because rhetoric does have the "Rhetorical Triangle" involving ethos, pathos and logos, I get to experience one of each on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteEthos, my boss and professors. While getting directions or listening to a lecture or being scolded for whatever reason, I can't get too upset too quickly because I must remind myself these people are credible speakers on the subject at hand. Whether or not I agree.
Logos, my computer recently decided it was done with this earthly world and has gone to a better place. While mourning it's passing I was talking to my Dad about the inevitable question, Mac or PC. He had to present to me logical evidence as to why I should rid myself of beautiful Mac dreams and a sensible person with a PC. His speech, while some may say compelling, fell short for me. However, credit where credit is due, he did try to logically change my mind rather than ignoring everything I wanted.
Pathos, every Sunday in church I am overwhelmed by the emotions, passions and unity I feel from my Pastor's service. I am in awe of the mighty words he speaks and the beautiful and inspiring way he knows to put them together. He pulls heavily on my heart strings and knows how to wrap my whole self into his service, this, as I see it, is a beautiful art.
In all of these ways rhetoric and it's many forms has taken shape in my daily life and I feel as though every time a new term is presented in class or reading I can find more and more small scale, personal examples for them to fit for me. I also think I am not alone in my feelings, which means all of the different forms, ways and presenters of rhetoric are the most vital to our field. Every part of this field is meant to touch at least one person, whether it be to question, praise or fight, there is constant connections and communication methods in which rhetoric and it's many faces are the primary and most central part to this field.
Throughout our readings and discussions, a few of the same words keep popping up, among them are exigence, kairos, constraints, audience, ethos, pathos, and logos. I feel like all these words can be easily linked to every day life and are in no way difficult to relate to human interaction and experience. Take, for example, the idea of exigence, which is “related to kairos as a kind of ‘generative timeliness’” (11). These are probably my two favorite terms because they encapsulate a concept I often experience. It’s one of those moments when a brilliant comeback turns up once the conversation’s over, or even while the conversation continues, but the moment is gone. Kairos [timeliness] and exigence [“a gap… that can be met… only by spoken or written text”(11)] are contained within that moment, and once that moment’s gone, the opportunity for rhetorical discourse vanishes and only regret at what should’ve been said remains. This happens to me quite often, and not meeting these two elements definitely places an obstacle in the achievement of successful rhetorical discourse. I had heard a while back that in French, this occurrence is normally referred to as l’esprit de l’escalier, and in a way it’s somewhat comforting to know this is common enough to have a specific phrase devised for this type of situation. It’s nice to know this problem within rhetorical discourse isn’t a personal problem but rather a common incidence.
ReplyDeleteConstraints are another factor most of us are majorly aware of as we go about life, particularly in the rhetorical context. Often, these constraints lead us to sensor our speech and obviously change it, most frequently by adding weight to one side of the rhetorical argument or cutting out pieces of it. I can often perceive the change in my form of speech when context and situation change because these changes alter the constraints, they may be political in one situation while social or cultural in another. Often they may be mixed, but most frequently, one will outweigh the other and alter rhetorical discourse in this way. Another concept/keyword that often changes the nature of the speech, and the attitude of the rhetor in the same manner that constraints do is the audience. Depending on whom I’m addressing, my means, method, and style of speech may shift one way or another. If I try to convince a friend to buy me an ice cream, I will be doing it differently than if I were trying to convince an organization to sponsor fieldwork investigation or something of the kind. This, too, is linked to pathos, ethos, and logos, because depending on the context of the situation, the constraints within which I’ll be working and the audience I’ll be referring to, my use of emotional appeal, logical thought, and credibility will most likely change.