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So...why look at a text in this way?

  • Analyzing a text for the appeals helps you to see it as a writing that doesn't take place in a vacuum. All writing has outside elements that affect it: The speaker, his/her message, the audience

Rhetorical Analysis, SOAPSTone, & the Three Appeals

In this presentation, you'll learn

  • how all nonfiction texts are affected by and affect three elements: The speaker, the message, and the audience;
  • how cultural, social, political conditions affect the writing of nonfiction texts;
  • how argumentative writing works on a different level...

PLEASE TAKE NOTES IN YOUR COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK.

When should I analyze a text in this way?

First of all,

read the text to

the right...

  • You can analyze a text rhetorically under almost any circumstance, but it works particularly well with any type of argument, particularly speeches, editorials, documentaries, and advertisements.

Rhetorical Analysis:

More to Texts Than Meets the Eye...

In any argument, there are three ways for a writer to appeal to an audience...

Appeal to Logos: What's the logical message the author is sharing?

Logos involves the relationship between the claim and the evidence: What is the claim? What evidence does the author present? How well are they linked?

Counterarguments are another way to appeal to logic (conceding a point, then refuting)

SOAPSTone = an acronym that will help you understand rhetorical context:

Subject: What is the subject / topic of the text?

Occasion: Why is the speaker writing? What has caused the writing?

What outside political, social, cultural elements influence the writing of the text?

Audience: Who is the audience? What are some characteristics / traits of the audience that the text takes into consideration?

Purpose: What is the purpose of the text? (to persuade, to inform, to convince)

Speaker: Who is the speaker / writer? What do we learn about the speaker / writer from the text?

Tone: What is the speaker’s attitudes towards the topic? The audience? Always provide textual support.

With any text, consider the SOAPSTone, which will help you understand the RHETORICAL SITUATION, which...

  • refers to the context in which the writing takes place (Why? When? To whom? Who is writing?)
  • can be specific (What's the immediate situation in which the writer finds him/herself?) or broad (what's happening in the world at this time?)

If you look at the letter again...

What's Ewald's message?

  • Please return my son because...
  • I have always been a friend of Arabs.
  • My son is asthmatic, so he needs a doctor's care

This video shows the rhetorical situation of the text:

Ethos: Who is the author? What characteristics does he / she possess that add to the argument? AND What are the values of the audience that are vital to the argument / situation to which the author can appeal?

Ethos refers to both…

  • the speaker’s credibility / persona
  • the values of the audience that the speaker shares

If the speaker’s ethos is in conflict with the community’s ethos, the speaker has to work to create his or her credibility with the audience

Pathos: Emotions of the Audience

If you look at Ewald's letter, here's her ethos...

She essentially tells Hussein...

  • I've been a friend to the Arabs for my entire life...
  • My husband helped your enemies pull out of the Suez Canal...which helped your country...
  • I am a poet who has written about Arabia
  • ...so this is unfair...
  • ...and you should release my son.
  • An appeal to the emotions of the audience (remember—empathy, sympathy)
  • Writing that relies exclusively on emotional appeal is rarely effective in the long term, but one should not stray away from using any emotional appeal
  • Diction / connotation (emotional meanings of words), figurative language (metaphors, similes), and vivid, concrete description affect this
  • Photographs also have emotional effects on audiences

She presents herself as a friend to his people, appealing to his national and religious identity.

Thus...in Ewald's letter, she appeals to pathos in this way:

  • Hussein as a father: He had children, so he could possibly understand her plight.
  • Hussein's religion: "I beg you, in the name of Allah, let my son go." She doesn't deprecate Islam; instead, she uses "Allah" as a sign of respect.
  • Hussein as a Dictator: "You have the power to right that wrong." She could have been angry and told him to go to hell and that her country would destroy him, but, instead, she appeals to his desire for power, putting the decision in his hands.
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