Post 6: Rhetorical Strategies

     Have you ever thought about how you are expressing what you write about, or even in person when you are speaking to a friend? Maybe you don't but that's OK. Each and every one of us carry on conversations every day rather it be to a parent, teacher, or a friend and most of you probably notice and realize the way you would speak to a teacher is not the same way you would speak to one of your best friends. The way we speak to convey a specific audience is considered a Rhetorical Strategy and is best used when trying to make your point across to a specific audience.

    This is explained very persuasively in a piece written by Janet Boyd in the piece, Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking). More specifically when Boyd notes, "The closing argument is a good example of how the different rhetorical tools available carry different weight given the rhetorical situation." Each situation we encounter with a specific audience carries a different rhetorical situation and we have to strategies the way we speak and how words are used in specific context in order to get our point across.

technicalandprofessionalcommunication

    

    As you can see from the above graphic posted - you can start to feel a better sense of exactly how each rhetorical situation is different and how we can strategize based on which audience we are trying to get our point heard by. The four main points that are exaggerated in a Rhetorical Strategy are:

- Why the writer is writing about this subject (Or why a speaker is speaking about a subject)

- Who is discussing this, where/when is this an issue

- What the writer (or speaker) is seeking from the audience

- How the subject is presented to the audience

    Although Boyd's piece gives personal accounts and breaks different events out into different situations, breaking out why and how into smaller accounts for quicker reading and understand can help you to understand different Rhetorical Strategies to better incorporate into your writing. Boyd specifically issues an example of a eulogy to her class which is:

For those of you who knew Mark Smith as I did, I am sure you are not the least bit surprised to hear that he was murdered and quite violently with multiple stab wounds. Mark was our friend and our benefactor, but of course we all know he was a low-life criminal. With the number of enemies Mark made, I’m sure that the only surprise is that it took them until 10:37 p.m. on Saturday, June 6th to catch up with his sorry butt. It is ironic, you must agree, that he “bought it” in a parking garage since the only thing he ever did in a parking garage is rip off the things that everybody who parked there had brought! Yes, we’ll miss you Mark and those little surprises he used to bring to each of us. Rest in peace, buddy!

    As you will more than likely have the same response her class had after reading this fictious account which was noted as, "When we read this one aloud in class, much laughter broke out." Yep it's different, it's wrong. You will never read this in a professional eulogy in your life. It's not what we are used too, its all about how we are presenting a message to our audience. Maybe in this example provided by Boyd it could be appropriate if the eulogy was written for a deceased friend who enjoyed these type of pieces, or if the audience and the former member of life both thought it would be best to be written but many times it's not what we are used too and can more than likely cause funny looks and looks of disgust and 99.9% of the time cause disarray to your audience which would do the complete opposite of what you are trying to do.

    At best in our writing pieces, we have to realize the audience we are trying to speak too and use these different types of rhetoric strategies in order to convince our reader of what we are trying to say.