Lenella Miller
Many people struggle with rhetorical analysis theses. The good news is, once you have a strong thesis, it will guide you in writing your rhetorical analysis.
Give the title and author of the essay you re analyzing. Include information about the rhetorical situation unless that information is already in the introduction: o audience o author s main idea & purpose o context
We can often find clues to an essay s original audience by finding out where it was originally published. From the list of Credits in the back of the Blair Reader, we find that Sanctuary of School was published in the New York Times in 1992. A little more internet research can tell us more about the readers of the New York Times. According to their webpage s media kit, the newspaper s audience is o o 54% male 46% female o median age 45 o o highly educated more likely than average to be employed This information tells us that it s possible that many people in the audience Barry was writing for believe in the positive power of education, as many of the readers are highly educated. How might knowing this information about Barry s audience affect your understanding of her purpose and the rhetorical tools she used in writing her essay?
An essay s main idea is the main point, the thesis that all other ideas in the essay support. For example, in Sanctuary of School, Barry states her main idea near the end of her essay. Barry argues against budget cuts for schools, particularly against poor salaries for teachers and cuts to arts and music education and before- and afterschool programs (85). In her last paragraph, she uses a metaphor to make her main idea even more powerful: Mrs. LeSane asked us to please stand, face the flag, place our right hands over our hearts and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Children across the country do it faithfully. I wonder now when the country will face its children and say a pledge right back. (85) The main idea is often explicitly stated, although it can be implied through details and even through figurative language, as Barry does. Implied main ideas are most common in narrative essays.
The purpose is the author s goal in writing the essay what the author hopes to accomplish through her or his writing. Often but not always the main idea and the purpose are the same or similar. Sometimes an essay s purpose(s) may be different from the explicitly stated main idea. For example, in texting someone you re interested in dating, you might talk about a funny experience you had earlier in the day. Talking about that experience would be your main idea. But your real purposes are probably to sound cool, funny, intelligent, and attractive (or whatever qualities you value ), and ultimately, to start a relationship with that person. Similarly, essays often have different main ideas and purposes.
For example, in I Want a Wife, author Judy Brady s main idea is to sarcastically ridicule stereotypes of the perfect wife and her not-so-perfect husband. More seriously, the piece pointed out how many things wives do for husbands and children and how unappreciated wives can be. However, with this essay, as with any essay, finding out about the context and original audience of the essay can help us understand the main idea and purpose. Brady s essay was originally published in 1972 in Ms. Magazine. What can you guess or infer about Brady s original audience from looking at http://www.msmagazine.com/about.asp? Look around a little at the current journal too: http://www.msmagazine.com/.
Who do you think read Ms. magazine in 1972? women who were content being wives like Brady describes? or women who might be unhappy if they or others were treated this way, women who were frustrated with sexism and injustice? I m guessing the latter was more common. So, if Brady was most likely writing to women who were frustrated with injustice, why would she write to them? What effect would this essay have? Most likely they already agreed with her main idea. She wouldn t need to convince them of her main idea. Then why would Brady write the essay? Perhaps Brady wrote the essay simply for laughs. Or perhaps the shared laughs and sarcasm that this essay might have engendered might be a hint at another purpose, different from the main idea. Have you ever heard of consciousness raising? Read the first few paragraphs of this wikipedia s description of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/consciousness_raising. What might her purpose have been for her original audience at this particular time?
Just as with any thesis, it s tempting to simply announce your topic without commenting on it. For example, you might say, My rhetorical analysis will be about Lynda Barry s Sanctuary of School. But remember, you need the topic and a comment about it: In addition to your topic (Lynda Barry s Sanctuary of School ) you need to comment what will you be saying about Sanctuary of Schools? Don t have a topic without a comment: o o My rhetorical analysis will be about Lynda Barry s Sanctuary of School. Comment: What will you be saying about Sanctuary of Schools? Don t comment without explaining why --without mentioning rhetorical strategies. o This essay sucked or This essay was awesome.
List the rhetorical strategies you ll be discussing: Just as it s tempting to have a topic without a comment, in a rhetorical analysis thesis statement, it s also tempting to have a simple comment without saying why or without mentioning rhetorical strategies. Avoid simplistic comments such as This essay sucked or This essay was awesome. Discuss rhetorical strategies in your comment: o Take a stand on the author s rhetorical strategies, not on the author s main idea. o Your thesis is about how the author wrote the essay her rhetorical strategies--and how she accomplishes her purpose. o Your thesis is not just summarizing what the essay says. o State what rhetorical strategies you will be analyzing
You will have a lot of information about your essay in your annotated copy of the essay and your worksheet. You can t cover all strategies that the author uses, so you need to choose what to say: Narrow your focus -- choose the strategies that seem most prevalent in the essay most interesting or complex most important to the essay s persuasiveness or lack of persuasiveness Evaluate the effectiveness of the essay in achieving its purpose through use of rhetorical strategies. How do these strategies impact the text s effectiveness?
Organization: o The rhetorical strategies should be listed in the same order in the thesis as they are discussed in the essay. Length: o Your thesis should be one or two sentences: one sentence if you discuss the audience and purpose/main idea earlier in the introduction, and one or two sentences if you discuss the audience and purpose/main idea in the thesis.
Try writing your thesis several different ways, even using different tones and styles. Revise your thesis as you write your essay if you find that your thesis no longer matches your essay.
Just as the combination of tapas can make a full meal, the combination of T.A.P.A.S. elements in your rhetorical analysis thesis statement makes a complete thesis statement. T Title of Article A Author s Name P Purpose & Main idea A Audience S Strategies (Rhetorical)