LETTERS FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION LOGOS Logos refers to using logic, reasoning, and evidence to make a case. PATHOS Pathos refers to the use of emotion, style, and humor to persuade. ETHOS Ethos refers to the speaker s credibility. In general, there are two forms of ethos: invented and situated. Invented: delivery, dress, and appearance Situated: experience and background KAIROS Kairos is timing. Generally, it can be seen in two ways, the timing in the moment of the presentation/speech (like telling a joke with excellent timing) and the timing that comes from the right historical moment (George Bush s address at the 9/11 site after the attacks, for example)
LETTERS FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL SOAPS Subject: The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text. You should be able to state the main subjects in a few words or less. Occasion (or Context): The time, place, context or current situation of the piece. It is particularly important that you understand the context that encouraged the writing to happen, but don t confuse occasion with purpose. Audience: The group of readers to whom this piece is directed (target audience). The audience may be one person, a small group, or a large group. Who is the hoped-for audience? Some of the critical elements of audience analysis include: o Demographics o Attitudes and beliefs o Predisposition towards the speaker Purpose: The reason behind the text. This is especially important for examining rhetoric. You can not examine the logic or argument of a piece until you know the reason for the piece, or what the author is trying to tell you. What does the author hope the reader will take from the piece? Speaker: When evaluating the speaker, one should examine her tone, attitude, and approach to connecting with the audience. 2
STYLE AND WORD CHOICE Diction: Connotation: the emotional context/meaning of a word Denotation: its literal meaning Think of the difference between mother/mom/mommy and house/home/residence. Authors choose words deliberately for effect. An Example of Effective Short Variety In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestoes, White papers and the speeches of undersecretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases -- bestial atrocities, iron heel, bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder -- one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. George Orwell, Politics and the English Language An Example of Effective Short Sentences General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! Ronald Reagan, Speech in Berlin, 1987 3
RHETORICAL DEVICES Parallelism is the deliberate similarity of structure in a pair or series of words, phrases, or sentences. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Antithesis: The presentation of two contrasting images in an expression balanced by word, phrase, clause, or sentence. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." --Abraham Lincoln A rhetorical question is a question that you ask without expecting an answer. The question might be one that does not have an answer. It might also be one that has an obvious answer. Why does this class never seem to turn in its homework on time? Don Pogreba, Room 14, Helena High School Hypophora occurs when the speaker asks a question and then answers it. "You ask, what is our policy? I will say it is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy. - -Winston Churchill, Speech to the House of Commons, 1941 4
Concession is when the speaker acknowledges a point made by the opposing side in an argument. Polysyndeton is the repeated use of conjunctions in a series of sentences or phrases. A German daily is the slowest and saddest and dreariest of the inventions of man. -Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad Anaphora occurs when the speaker repeats the same words at the start of successive sentences or clauses. Why should white people be running all the stores in our community? Why should white people be running the banks of our community? Why should the economy of our community be in the hands of the white man? Why? Malcolm X, The Ballot or the Bullet Epistrophe occurs when the speaker repeats the same words at the end of successive sentences or clauses. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson Signifying is when the speaker cleverly and humorously needles the listener. Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers? MLK, Letter 5
LITERARY DEVICES & TROPES Allusion: a passing reference to a historical, literary, religious, or mythological figure or event. Imagery: the use of sensory images to create meaning and enhance the reader s understanding of the text. Metaphor: a comparison between two dissimilar things, done for artistic effect and to enliven an argument Simile: a comparison between two dissimilar things, done for artistic effect and to enliven an argument, using the words like, as or resembles Analogy: The comparison of two things, which are alike in several respects, for the purpose of explaining or clarifying some unfamiliar or difficult idea or object by showing how the idea or object is similar to some familiar one. While simile and analogy often overlap, the simile is generally a more artistic likening, done briefly for effect and emphasis, while analogy serves the more practical end of explaining a thought process or a line of reasoning or the abstract in terms of the concrete, and may therefore be more extended. Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration for effect Understatement: the opposite of hyperbole. J Tone: the author s attitude towards her subject. 6