Transcript Everyday Use Chapter 1 Summary

Everyday Use
Summary of Chapter 1
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Consider the following scene:
Late night on Route 66, somewhere in Arizona.
Nick checks the speedometer, slows. He looks
over at Kate quickly, then focuses on the
road. He clears his throat.
Kate stares out her window. The corner of her
mouth twitches.
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Nick: So, do you think there are many cops on
the road?
Kate: This time of night?
Nick (speeding up): Well… guess not.
Kate reaches for the radio buttons. He reaches
at the same time. Their fingers touch.
Nick and Kate (at once): Sorry.
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Nick: I mean… for the radio.
Kate: Me too.
Kate looks out the window again. She begins to
hum with the radio. Nick looks over at her
again, longer this time. He begins to hum
too. She turns to him now. He slows the
car.
Nick: So, do you still want to go to the Grand
Canyon?
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
In the preceding scene from a film,
what is being said (perhaps
without actually being said)?
How do the possible contexts
affect the meaning of what is said?
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Rhetoric: the art humans use to process sent
and received messages.
Rhetorical choices: choices made to achieve a
desired meaning.
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Rescuing Rhetoric from its bad reputation.
Common misunderstanding of rhetoric is that a
text lacks sincerity, and is full of coercion
and manipulation.
“Full of rhetoric”: the person has nothing to
say; is misleading and unclear; what they
say is a roadblock to real progress.
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Rescuing Rhetoric from its bad reputation.
Rhetor: speaker/writer persuading others
because they have something valuable to say.
“a good person speaking well”
Rhetoric: the art of analyzing language choices
made in a given situation so that the text
becomes meaningful
Specific features of a text that give it meaning
Activity on page 4; questions on page 7
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
The Rhetorical Triangle:
Speaker
Audience
Subject
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
The Rhetorical Triangle:
Three basic keys
1. Understanding Persona
2. Understanding Appeals to Audience
3. Understanding Subject
Three other keys:
1. Understanding Context
2. Understanding Intention
3. Understanding Genre
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Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Persona
Speak/Write so that the audience perceives a
character (one that is educated,
trustworthy, etc.)
Make inferences about others, analyze others’
appeals, invite audience interaction and
involvement
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Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Persona
Persona: creation of voice, word choices, etc.
Voice: textual features that convey persona
read SI article on pages 8-9
Tone: speaker’s attitude toward a subject
Diction: word choice
Logic: art of reasoning
Irony: opposite meaning of what is said
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Persona
Persona is often genuine, but occasionally
comical for effect
Writers use voice to affect readers’
understanding and beliefs
The mask of persona doesn’t hide you from the
reader, it meets them head on and
interacts purposely and effectively
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Appeals to the Audience
Audience must respond to the text
Writer must understand how a text appeals to
the audience:
•Locate “available means of persuasion”
•Understand needs, knowledge, experience of
the reader
•Research and develop topics
Goal is to persuade audience to a course of
action based upon a common search for
truth
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Appeals to the Audience
Logos: evidence (facts) to support an idea
Ethos: credibility of speaker and sources
Pathos: appeals to emotion
These are not used separately or exclusively
“Things that are true and just tend to prevail
over their opposite”
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Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Subject
Treat the subject fairly, fully, and effectively
Consider what to include, why to include it, the
audience, and what kind of text ought to be
used.
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Subject
Essentials:
•Subject must be “open”
•Capitalize on what the audience knows, make
them curious, then satisfy their curiosity
•Claim + support
•Generate ample support
Thesis Statement: main point of an argument
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Modifying the Rhetorical Triangle: Rhetoric
in Context
Speaker
Context
genre
intention
Audience
Subject
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Chapter 1 Summary
Rhetoric in Context
Context: time, place, people, events, motives,
that influence a work
Intention: rhetorical transactions designed to
achieve a purpose
Genre: style or type of writing selected to
achieve a purpose
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Context
No text is an island
immediate situation
historical background
persona
audience
Current events lose their currency quickly
Use cultural context
Make it relevant to the audience – local appeal
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Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Intention
A call to action
An attempt to change an opinion
Write about what interests you
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Chapter 1 Summary
Understanding Genre
Use of a particular type of text
Genre needs to match context and purpose
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Chapter 1 Summary
Rhetoric in Life
Understand how and why messages affect us
Helps raise social consciousness and
contribution
Rhetoric is a two-way street of expectations
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Rhetoric and Conscientious Consumption
We are inundated with messages
How do we know to whom to listen or what
to do?
•How does a good reader evaluate the claims?
•How does each message attempt to persuade
its audience?
•What does each message attempt to persuade
the audience to do?
View images on pages 27-28
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Chapter 1 Summary
Review of Chapter 1
1. Rhetoric is not for the elite. It is an
accessible set of techniques and practices
available to all.
2. Rhetoric is the specific features of a text that
catch the audience’s attention and show the
author’s purpose.
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Review of Chapter 1
Six elements of the Rhetorical Triangle:
• Writer / Speaker
• Audience
• Subject
• Context
• Purpose
• Genre
Everyday Use
Chapter 1 Summary
Review of Chapter 1
Questions:
• What persona is the author projecting?
• Who is the intended audience?
• What is the speaker-audience relationship?
• What is the central idea?
• How is the text developed?
• How is the text organized?
• What is the context?
• How does the context influence the text?