{"id":1171,"date":"2017-08-28T23:08:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T23:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transfer.writingcommons.org\/2017\/08\/28\/rhetorical-analysis-in-the-real-world-a-useful-thinking-tool\/"},"modified":"2023-11-01T19:03:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T19:03:21","slug":"rhetorical-analysis-in-the-real-world-a-useful-thinking-tool","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/writingcommons.org\/article\/rhetorical-analysis-in-the-real-world-a-useful-thinking-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhetorical Analysis in the Real World: A Useful Thinking Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Related Concepts: Rhetoric<\/a>; Rhetorical Analysis<\/a>; Rhetorical Reasoning<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As a citizen and a scholar, I use rhetorical analysis to sort out questions about politics and relationships. In everyday life, rhetorical analysis is a valuable tool for understanding and preparing to engage in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t thought much about the word \u201chelp\u201d until the summer day I strolled along the beach with my boyfriend. A young man on the boardwalk struggled with something\u2014tying a kite maybe? collapsing a stroller? I don\u2019t remember what he was doing, only that it looked like one of those tasks that are easier to do with two people.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you need a hand?\u201d I asked as we passed.<\/p>\n

The man looked up abruptly. He shook his head with a scowl. We walked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t do that,\u201d my boyfriend instructed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t ask people if they need help,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s demeaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps because I am a woman, the youngest of four daughters, I had never considered helping or being helped as anything but good. I had been praised for anticipating which tool my dad might need at the workbench or helping my sister bring in more wood for the fire. But my boyfriend pointed out another side of the story: the masculine expectation that you are supposed do it alone and the accompanying narrative that \u201creal men\u201d are capable, strong, and independent. I had blundered with my casual offer, adding insult to the embarrassment the young man probably already felt. I might as well have said, \u201cLet me rescue you, little one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moment reminded me that the world in which I live is not the universal world but just one dimension of it. I started noticing attitudes about \u201chelp\u201d everywhere: people (mostly men) soldiered through alone; other people (mostly women) looked around for help. I don\u2019t mean to overgeneralize or to suggest that I now believe that accepting help is weak, but I do look for cues now about how an offer of help might be experienced. I decide more consciously whether and how to engage.<\/p>\n

This kind of experience\u2014a burst of insight about how language has shaped a moment\u2014that\u2019s the reason I do rhetorical analysis. That\u2019s the reason lots of people do rhetorical analysis, even if they don\u2019t call it by the same name. Rhetorical analysis is a tool for digging into language-infused moments to uncover the networks of values, assumptions, and expectations that shape how people experience such moments.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid that many people don\u2019t recognize the value of this tool because teachers in high school and college (including me) have jumped too quickly to talk about how<\/em> to do rhetorical analysis instead of why<\/em>. I want to invite people\u2014citizens, students, communities, neighbors\u2014to see the advantage of this way of exploring.<\/p>\n

I begin by sharing some examples of rhetorical analysis to illustrate the different purposes that the method can serve and where we encounter it. Because I\u2019m using examples from my life, I draw on the sources and issues with which I\u2019ve been concerned, which happen to lean left, politically. However, the strategies I offer as I unpack these examples are equally useful for anyone who encounters an argument that seems puzzling or a situation in which they aren\u2019t sure how to respond.<\/p>\n

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