Tought Piece (EA Chp 6)

I feel as though I use Rhetorical Analysis on a daily basis. I feel Rhetorical Analysis is like our own mini Sherlock Holmes that uses every bit of detailed information our mind has gathered and uses it to create a profile or an idea of what the purpose is for that person or writing or text or tweet. I know a specific example would be the other day when we had to do a physics lab with a partner. No one wants to get a lousy partner who doesn’t know what they are doing and just jacks around the whole time. So I scanned the room as soon as I walked in to see if there was anyone who looked like they would be good at physics. I’d never met anyone in my class before so how could I make such a judgment? Well I think that’s where the rhetoric part comes in to play. We can judge people or have preconceived ideas on a person simply by the way that they dress, how they act, their mannerisms, the way they talk or don’t talk, and by how they express themselves. All of these things allow us to have an understanding, or what we view as an understanding of this person. So I used my rhetorical analysis skills and chose to sit next to the Asian who had already started working on the lab. Sure this story is pretty short and sweet but you get the point right? Before I chose my seat I was reading between the lines to determine who would be the best partner. I believe this concept can be used with reading as well. You can look at the details that aren’t directly stated on the paper. If you get to a difficult article you can look at who the author was, what he studied, why he is considered knowledgeable in his field. You can take a look at who he is writing to, and why he even cares to communicate his ideas to his audience. What was going on in the author’s life period at the time this article was being published? Also, what was going on around the world at the time this article was written and published? All of this evidence can allow you to have a better understanding of the reading that you may be doing.  It also allows you as a reader to connect with the reading. Whether you connect by an emotional feeling that the author brings about, a logical thought process that you are contemplating, or the understanding of a specific characteristic, when you are thinking in depth about a specific reading and going deeper than the surface I believe that is what rhetoric is.